Biomaterial Database

Lithium carbonate prophylaxis failure. 1976

D L Dunner, and J L Fleiss, and R R Fieve

Data from non-rapid-cycling bipolar (manic-depressive) patients who were receiving long-term treatment with lithium carbonate were analysed by the life table method to determine when lithium carbonate prophylaxis failures occurred. Forty-four of 96 patients failed to keep well in spite of maintenance lithium therapy. The analysis revealed an early, rapid failure rate during the first six months of treatment, which was followed by a slower rate of failure. Several clinical factors were assessed to determine if any of them predicted which patient would experience their initial failure in the early or late interval, but none of these factors, which included age, sex, age of onset, rate of affective attacks, family history, and the nature of the preceding episode, were found to have any predictive value regarding lithium prophylaxis failure. We found, however, that patients who had early failures tended to have a subsequent early failure in spite of continued maintenance with lithium carbonate.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008094	Lithium	An element in the alkali metals family. It has the atomic symbol Li, atomic number 3, and atomic weight [6.938; 6.997]. Salts of lithium are used in treating BIPOLAR DISORDER.	Lithium-7,Lithium 7
D008134	Long-Term Care	Care over an extended period, usually for a chronic condition or disability, requiring periodic, intermittent, or continuous care.	Care, Long-Term,Long Term Care
D008297	Male		Males
D008875	Middle Aged	An adult aged 45 - 64 years.	Middle Age
D010919	Placebos	Any dummy medication or treatment. Although placebos originally were medicinal preparations having no specific pharmacological activity against a targeted condition, the concept has been extended to include treatments or procedures, especially those administered to control groups in clinical trials in order to provide baseline measurements for the experimental protocol.	Sham Treatment
D011336	Probability	The study of chance processes or the relative frequency characterizing a chance process.	Probabilities
D012008	Recurrence	The return of a sign, symptom, or disease after a remission.	Recrudescence,Relapse,Recrudescences,Recurrences,Relapses
D002986	Clinical Trials as Topic	Works about pre-planned studies of the safety, efficacy, or optimum dosage schedule (if appropriate) of one or more diagnostic, therapeutic, or prophylactic drugs, devices, or techniques selected according to predetermined criteria of eligibility and observed for predefined evidence of favorable and unfavorable effects. This concept includes clinical trials conducted both in the U.S. and in other countries.	Clinical Trial as Topic
D003863	Depression	Depressive states usually of moderate intensity in contrast with MAJOR DEPRESSIVE DISORDER present in neurotic and psychotic disorders.	Depressive Symptoms,Emotional Depression,Depression, Emotional,Depressive Symptom,Symptom, Depressive
D005069	Evaluation Studies as Topic	Works about studies that determine the effectiveness or value of processes, personnel, and equipment, or the material on conducting such studies.	Critique,Evaluation Indexes,Evaluation Methodology,Evaluation Report,Evaluation Research,Methodology, Evaluation,Pre-Post Tests,Qualitative Evaluation,Quantitative Evaluation,Theoretical Effectiveness,Use-Effectiveness,Critiques,Effectiveness, Theoretical,Evaluation Methodologies,Evaluation Reports,Evaluation, Qualitative,Evaluation, Quantitative,Evaluations, Qualitative,Evaluations, Quantitative,Indexes, Evaluation,Methodologies, Evaluation,Pre Post Tests,Pre-Post Test,Qualitative Evaluations,Quantitative Evaluations,Report, Evaluation,Reports, Evaluation,Research, Evaluation,Test, Pre-Post,Tests, Pre-Post,Use Effectiveness