Bipolar Disorder in Older Adults Clinical and Epidemiological Aspects

The proportion of older adults in the global population continues to rise, leading to the emergence of psychiatric morbidity that is both common and distinct in its manifestations, and particularly difficult to manage because it is often intertwined with symptoms of organic origin. Bipolar disorder in older adults is no exception to this observation, and its study is of fundamental importance, warranting a thorough understanding not only of the mechanisms underlying the disorder but also of its therapeutic management and clinical course. Nevertheless, this disorder remains understudied in geriatrics: indeed, the criteria of the most widely accepted diagnostic classifications are not adapted to older adults, and the specific features of the disease related to aging are often overlooked. It is with this in mind that we conducted this study, which aimed to determine the epidemiological and clinical characteristics, as well as the therapeutic particularities, of bipolar disorder in a population of older adults being treated in a psychiatric department, and to conduct a systematic review of the various issues raised by the disorder.