LONG TERM OUTCOMES AND HEALTH INEQUALITIES IN BIPOLAR AFFECTIVE DISORDER WITHIN A UK PRIMARY CARE COHORT (1995-2012)

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Bipolar affective disorder (BPAD), or manic depression, is recognised as one of the commonest causes of worldwide disability in adults of working age. It is a lifelong illness, which often starts early in adulthood, and causes sufferers to experience prolonged episodes of depression or elation. Currently the illness affects more than 1% of the population and costs the UK £6 billion/year. It is recognised that research into BPAD is underfunded relative to other severe mental illness (SMI). This study aims to answer two questions about BPAD: 1) Can long-term health outcomes be improved by appropriate medication? 2) Does social deprivation or where you live lead to reduced access to treatment and worse outcomes?This study is important because we know that people with BPAD are frequently admitted to hospital, suffer more physical and mental illness, more commonly die by suicide, and are more likely to die early compared to the rest of the population. Episodes of illness can result in loss of jobs, relationships and housing. However the true extent of these problems isn't fully understood and needs to be clarified. Stabilising the mood of people with BPAD with medication should, in the long-term, have a positive impact not only on their lives, but also on their families, use of NHS services, and society as a whole. There are a number of medications recommended as appropriate treatment to manage the condition in the long-term (including lithium, valproate and olanzapine). The evidence supporting the use of these drugs is based on randomised controlled trials (RCTs), which aim to compare directly the effectiveness of drugs with each other, or with a placebo. However, these trials often have short follow-up times (of a matter of months whilst in reality patients take these medications for years), involve small numbers of patients, and are very selective about the types of patients they include (perhaps excluding "typical" people with BPAD, who also have other health problems). So it remains unclear if the medications really do reduce these negative outcomes.It is also not known if a patient's age, sex, ethnicity, social deprivation, urbanicity and location affect their access to treatment and outcomes. Any inequalities in health treatment are unfair and detrimental to society, but they are avoidable and identifying them would allow targeted interventions to be developed.The project will use information from The Health Improvement Network (THIN), a database of General practice (GP) consultations. It contains records of diagnosis and medication prescribed to over 10 million patients. There are over 20,000 patients with BPAD in the database (the largest group of BPAD patients ever examined), with an average follow-up time of almost eight years. The database is updated automatically and anonymously when a GP makes an entry, therefore the project does not require input from patients (whose mental health may be affected by involvement in such a study).I will examine how often patients experience hospitalisation, contact with emergency psychiatric teams (Crisis Teams or Home Treatment teams), how many self harm, die by suicide and die prematurely. I will see if these outcomes are more common in particular groups; by treatment and by social deprivation.The reason studies such as this have not been possible in the past is that UK databases were not of sufficient quality, and did not include information on admissions. This is the first time GP and hospital data will be combined to examine BPAD. Also there was a worry that, by not randomly allocating patients to a treatment (like RCTs), results would be biased. In this study a number of statistical methods will be used to minimise possible bias. The project will give a comprehensive understanding of the effects of, and outcomes in BPAD, and will add to the evidence on appropriate treatment with an approach that has not been attempted before.