Many at risk for undiagnosed bipolar disorder

About one out of seven of patients who are diagnosed with unipolar depression have experienced manic symptoms within the last year and are likely to actually have bipolar disorder, Kevin Nanry of GlaxoSmithKline and coauthors reported in a poster at the Seventh International Conference on Bipolar Disorder. “Failure to diagnose bipolar disorder accurately and early is a significant problem, contributing to significant morbidity, increasing the already high risk for suicide, and possibly decreasing the effectiveness of treatment once a correct diagnosis is made,” the authors reported....