The identification of biomarkers predicting acute and maintenance lithium treatment response in bipolar disorder: A plea for further research attention

The prediction of acute and maintenance lithium treatment response carries major clinical and neurobiological implications, warranting systematic review. A Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) compliant review searched major electronic databases from inception until December 2017 for studies documenting a clinical diagnosis of bipolar disorder (BD) made according to the mainstream diagnostic manuals and confirmed by a structured interview. Eligible studies allowed a quantitative comparison of endpoint vs baseline mean values of a given biomarker, regardless of the mood phase of patients with BD, and the disorder was assessed for severity using validate…