Recurrence rates in bipolar disorder: Systematic comparison of long-term prospective, naturalistic studies versus randomized controlled trials

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a recurrent, lifelong illness with high risks of disability and excess mortality. Despite many treatment options with demonstrated short-term efficacy, evidence concerning long-term treatment effectiveness in BD remains limited and the relative value of naturalistic studies versus randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) in its assessment, uncertain. Systematic computer-searching yielded 10 naturalistic studies and 15 RCTs suitable for analysis of recurrence rates and their association with treatments and selected clinical factors. In naturalistic studies (3904 BD subjects, 53.3% women, 85.8% BD-I, mean onset age 29.1, followed up to 2.1 years), the pooled recurrence ra…