Table 1.

Demographic and clinical characteristics of the 131 study participants

Age (years)	40.9 ± 11.4
Female	51.1
White	81.7
Education (years)	13.9 ± 2.6
Married	32.1
Employed	50.0
In-patient status	54.2
Age at first depressive episode (years)	22.1 ± 10.5
Age at first manic episode (years)	27.0 ± 12.0
MHAMD score at study entry	10.9 ± 8.6
BRMS score at study entry	9.9 ± 10.2
Polarity at study entry
Manic/Mixed	68.7
Depressed	29.8
Euthymic	1.5
Severity of index episode
Mild	10.9
Moderate	14.8
Severe without psychotic features	22.7
Severe with mood-congruent psychotic features	30.5
Severe with mood-incongruent psychotic features	21.1
Past number of depressive episodes	7.4 ± 11.5
Past number of manic episodes	9.4 ± 12.8
Rapid cycling	18.3
Lithium somatotherapy code at study entry	1.7a± 1.6
Lifetime Axis I diagnoses
Anxiety disorders	25.8
Alcohol or substance abuse/dependence	30.6
Eating disorders	5.8
Post-traumatic stress disorder	4.6

MHAMD, Modified Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression; BRMS, Bech–Rafaelsen Mania Rating Scale.

Values given as percentage or mean ± standard deviation.

Valid percentages are reported. One person was missing age, two were missing ethnicity, and three were missing employment. Thirty people were missing age at first depressive episode, five people were missing age at first manic episode, one person was missing MHAMD score at study entry, one person was missing BRMS score at study entry, three people were missing severity of index episode, 25 were missing number of depressive episodes, 13 were missing number of manic episodes, 26 were missing medication information at study entry, 34 were missing anxiety disorders diagnostic information, 46 were missing alcohol/substance or eating disorders diagnostic information, and 44 were missing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnostic information.

^aRepresents lithium levels that fall below 0.5 mEq/l.