Showing papers by "Peter C. Whybrow published in 2004"

The World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP) Guidelines for the Biological Treatment of Bipolar Disorders, Part III: Maintenance Treatment

Abstract: As with the two preceding guidelines of this series, these practice guidelines for the pharmacological maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder were developed by an international task force of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP). Their purpose is to supply a systematic overview of all scientific evidence relating to maintenance treatment. The data used for these guidelines were extracted from a MEDLINE and EMBASE search, from recent proceedings from key conferences and various national and international treatment guidelines. The scientific justification of support for particular treatments was categorised into four levels of evidence (A-D). As these guidelines are intended for clinical use, the scientific evidence was not only graded, but also reviewed by the experts of the task force to ensure practicality.

Using technology to improve longitudinal studies: self-reporting with ChronoRecord in bipolar disorder.

Abstract: Objectives: Longitudinal studies are an optimal approach to investigating the highly variable course and outcome associated with bipolar disorder, but are expensive and often have missing data. This study validates patient self-reported mood ratings using a home computer-based system (ChronoRecord) with clinician mood ratings on the Hamilton Depression Rating scale (HAMD) and Young Mania Rating scale (YMRS), and investigates the patient acceptance of the technology. Methods: After brief training, outpatients with bipolar disorder were given the software version of an established paper based self-reporting form (ChronoSheet) to install on a home computer. Every day for 3 months, patients entered mood, medications, sleep, life events, and menstrual data. Weight was entered weekly. Results: Eighty of 96 (83%) patients returned 8662 days of data. The mean days of data returned was 114.7 ± 32.3 SD The mean percentage of days missing for mood data was 6.1% ± 9.3 SD, equivalent to missing 7.3 day of the 114.7 days. Self-reported ratings were strongly correlated with clinician HAMD ratings (−0.683, p < 0.001). Conclusions: This study demonstrates concurrent validity between ChronoRecord and HAMD. Patients with bipolar disorder showed high acceptance of a computer-based system for self-reporting of daily data. Automation of data collection can reduce missing data and eliminate errors associated with data entry. This technology also enables on-going feedback for both patient and researcher during a long-term study.