Boris J Birmaher

CONTEXT: Only about 60% of adolescents with depression will show an adequate clinical response to an initial treatment trial with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). There are no data to guide clinicians on subsequent treatment strategy.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relative efficacy of 4 treatment strategies in adolescents who continued to have depression despite adequate initial treatment with an SSRI.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Randomized controlled trial of a ...

This study aimed to identify neuroimaging measures associated with risk for, or protection against, bipolar disorder by comparing youth offspring of parents with bipolar disorder versus youth offspring of non-bipolar parents versus offspring of healthy parents in (i) the magnitude of activation within emotional face processing circuitry; and (ii) functional connectivity between this circuitry and frontal emotion regulation regions. The study was conducted at the University of Pittsburgh ...

OBJECTIVE: Despite increased risk, most offspring of parents with bipolar disorder (BP) do not manifest BP. The identification of risk factors for BP among offspring could improve preventive and treatment strategies. We examined this topic in the Pittsburgh Bipolar Offspring Study (BIOS).

METHOD: Subjects included 388 offspring, ages 7-17 years, of 233 parents with BP-I or BP-II (via the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV). Offspring diagnoses were determined using the Schedule for ...

CONTEXT: Whether offspring of parents with bipolar disorder (BP) are at specifically high risk to develop BP and other psychiatric disorders has not been adequately studied.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate lifetime prevalence and specificity of psychiatric disorders in offspring of parents with BP-I and BP-II.

DESIGN: Offspring aged 6 to 18 years who have parents with BP and community control subjects were interviewed with standardized instruments. All research staff except the statistician were ...

CONTEXT: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued warnings that use of antidepressant medications poses a small but significantly increased risk of suicidal ideation/suicide attempt for children and adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and risk of reported suicidal ideation/suicide attempt of antidepressants for treatment of pediatric major depressive disorder (MDD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and non-OCD anxiety disorders.

DATA SOURCES AND STUDY ...

OBJECTIVE: The authors evaluated lifetime prevalence and specificity of DSM-IV psychiatric disorders and severity of depressive and manic symptoms at intake in preschool offspring of parents with bipolar I and II disorders.

METHOD: A total of 121 offspring ages 2-5 years from 83 parents with bipolar disorder and 102 offspring of 65 demographically matched comparison parents (29 with non-bipolar psychiatric disorders and 36 without any lifetime psychopathology) were recruited for the ...

BACKGROUND: Although adoption, twin, and family studies have shown that suicidal behavior is familial, the risk factors for familial transmission from parent to child remain unclear.

METHODS: A high-risk family study was conducted comparing the offspring of 2 mood-disordered groups: suicide attempters and nonattempters. Recruited from 2 sites, probands were 81 attempters and 55 nonattempters, with 183 and 116 offspring, respectively. Offspring were assessed by investigators masked to ...

CONTEXT: There was a paucity of comparative pharmacological research for initial treatment of bipolar I disorder, manic or mixed phase, in children and adolescents.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate which medication to administer first to antimanic medication-naive subjects.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: The Treatment of Early Age Mania (TEAM) study recruited 6- to 15-year-old children and adolescents with DSM-IV bipolar I disorder (manic or mixed phase) at 5 US sites from 2003 to 2008 into ...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms (LAMS) study is to examine differences in psychiatric symptomatology, diagnoses, demographics, functioning, and psychotropic medication exposure in children with elevated symptoms of mania (ESM) compared to youth without ESM. This article describes the initial demographic information, diagnostic and symptom prevalence, and medication exposure for the LAMS cohort that will be followed longitudinally.

METHOD: Guardians of ...

OBJECTIVE: Anxiety disorders are among the most common comorbid conditions in youth with bipolar disorder. We aimed to examine the prevalence and correlates of comorbid anxiety disorders among youth with bipolar disorder.

METHOD: As part of the Course and Outcome of Bipolar Youth study, 446 youth, ages 7 to 17 years, who met DSM-IV criteria for bipolar I disorder (n = 260) or bipolar II disorder (n = 32) or met operationalized criteria for bipolar disorder not otherwise specified (n = ...

OBJECTIVE: To compare the psychopathology and longitudinal course of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptomatology and global functioning between the offspring with ADHD of parents with bipolar disorder and the offspring with ADHD of community control parents.

METHOD: One hundred twenty-two offspring with ADHD of parents with bipolar disorder and 48 offspring with ADHD of control parents from the Pittsburgh Bipolar Offspring Study (BIOS) were included. DSM-IV lifetime ...

CONTEXT: Children and adolescents who present with manic symptoms frequently do not meet the full DSM-IV criteria for bipolar I disorder (BP-I).

OBJECTIVE: To assess the clinical presentation and family history of children and adolescents with BP-I, bipolar II disorder (BP-II), and bipolar disorder not otherwise specified (BP-NOS).

DESIGN: Subjects and their primary caretaker were assessed by semistructured interview, and family psychiatric history was obtained from interview of the ...

OBJECTIVES: Offspring of depressed parents are at increased risk for psychiatric disorders. Although bipolar disorder (BD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) are both found in the same families, it is not clear whether transmission to offspring of BD or MDD tends to occur from parents with the same mood disorder subtype. Our primary hypothesis was that the offspring of parents with BD would be at increased risk for BD and other comorbid disorders common to BD, such as anxiety and ...

OBJECTIVE: Exposure to suicidal behavior in peers and relatives is thought to increase risk for suicidal behavior in vulnerable individuals, possibly as a result of imitation or modeling. This study examines exposure to suicidal behavior and likelihood of suicide attempt in a high-risk cohort of offspring of a depressed parent.

METHOD: A total of 449 offspring of 255 probands with a mood disorder were enrolled in a family study. Probands and offspring were assessed for psychopathology ...

OBJECTIVE: The authors sought to determine 1) whether the risk for familial transmission of suicidal behavior is greater with increased family loading for suicide attempts, and 2) whether the transmission of suicidal behavior is mediated by impulsive aggression.

METHOD: A reanalysis of a high-risk study compared the offspring of three mood disorder proband groups: suicide attempters with a sibling who also attempted suicide (N=19), suicide attempters whose siblings never made a suicide ...