ArticleBipolar disorders2015
Longer lithium exposure is associated with better white matter integrity in older adults with bipolar disorder.
Article in Bipolar disorders, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Lithium effects in the frontolimbic circuitry: a systematic review of neuroimaging findings in bipolar disorder.Translational psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Psychoradiologic abnormalities of white matter in patients with bipolar disorder: diffusion tensor imaging studies using tract-based spatial statisticsJournal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN · 2019Pooled it
- Confining the Concept of Vascular Depression to Late-Onset Depression: A Meta-Analysis of MRI-Defined Hyperintensity Burden in Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder.Frontiers in psychology · 2019Pooled it
- Putative Mechanisms of Action and Clinical Use of Lithium in Children and Adolescents: A Critical Review.Current neuropharmacology · 2019Pooled it
- Neuroprotection after a first episode of mania: a randomized controlled maintenance trial comparing the effects of lithium and quetiapine on grey and white matter volume.Translational psychiatry · 2017Trial
- Revisiting the cognitive potential of lithium in alzheimer's disease: the role of cholinergic system and brain connectivity.Translational psychiatry · 2026Review
- Pharmacotherapy of major depressive disorder in older adults: from an evidence-informed stepwise algorithm to precision medicine.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- The spectrum of bipolar disorder in older adults.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Association between choroid plexus volume and cognitive function in older-age bipolar disorder.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- White matter microstructure in obesity and bipolar disorders: an ENIGMA bipolar disorder working group study in 2186 individuals.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
- Reduced risk of severe COVID-19 with lithium use: a large-scale comparison with valproate users and other COVID-19 patients.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- A review of diffusion MRI in mood disorders: mechanisms and predictors of treatment response.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Review
- Medication adherence and cognitive performance in schizophrenia-spectrum and bipolar disorder: results from the PsyCourse Study.Translational psychiatry · 2023Article
- Association between lithium use and the incidence of dementia and its subtypes: A retrospective cohort study.PLoS medicine · 2022Article
- Neuroimaging Studies of Brain Structure in Older Adults with Bipolar Disorder: A Review.Journal of psychiatry and brain science · 2022Article
- Mood Stabilizers in Psychiatric Disorders and Mechanisms Learnt from In Vitro Model Systems.International journal of molecular sciences · 2021Review
- Quantification of brain proton longitudinal relaxation (TBipolar disorders · 2021Article
- Frontotemporal Dementia and Late-Onset Bipolar Disorder: The Many Directions of a Busy Road.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Review
- Comparison of White Matter Structure of Drug-Naïve Patients With Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder Using Diffusion Tensor Tractography.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- White matter correlates of cognitive flexibility in youth with bipolar disorder and typically developing children and adolescents.Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesBipolar disorder (BD) is associated with cognitive dysfunction and structural brain abnormalities. In human and non-human studies, lithium has been related to neuroprotective and neurotrophic effects. We explored whether lithium treatment is related to better brain integrity and cognitive function in older adults with BD.
methodsWe examined cognitive and neuroimaging data in 58 individuals with BD [mean (standard deviation) age = 64.5 (9.8) years] and 21 mentally healthy comparators (controls) of similar age and education. Subjects received comprehensive neurocognitive assessment and structural brain imaging, examining total gray matter volume, overall white matter integrity (fractional anisotropy), and total white matter hyperintensity burden.
resultsIn comparison to controls, subjects with BD had worse overall cognitive performance, lower total gray matter volume, and lower white matter integrity. Among subjects with BD, longer duration of lithium treatment was related to higher white matter integrity after controlling for age and vascular disease burden, but not with better cognitive performance.
conclusionsLithium treatment appears to be related to better brain integrity in older individuals with BD, in particular, in those who take lithium long-term. While intriguing, these findings need to be confirmed in a larger sample.
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