Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31234824›Full record

ArticleBMC psychiatry2019

Safety monitoring of treatment in bipolar disorder in a tertiary care setting in Sri Lanka and recommendations for improved monitoring in resource limited settings.

Uthpali Mannapperuma, Priyadarshani Galappatthy, Raveendra Laal Jayakody, Jayan Mendis, Varuni Asanka de Silva, Raveen Hanwella

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC psychiatry, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
0.2field-weighted citation impact, top 47% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 6 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Uthpali MannapperumaDepartment of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, P.O.Box 271, Kynsey Road, Colombo 8, Sri Lanka. uthpali.m@pharm.cmb.ac.lk.ORCID 0000-0002-7433-2855
Priyadarshani GalappatthyDepartment of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, P.O.Box 271, Kynsey Road, Colombo 8, Sri Lanka.
Raveendra Laal JayakodyDepartment of Pharmacology and Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, P.O.Box 271, Kynsey Road, Colombo 8, Sri Lanka.
Jayan MendisNational Institute of Mental Health, Angoda, Sri Lanka.
Varuni Asanka de SilvaDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo 8, Sri Lanka.
Raveen HanwellaDepartment of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo 8, Sri Lanka.
University of Colombo · LK

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSafety monitoring of medicines is essential during therapy for bipolar disorder (BD). We determined the extent of safety monitoring performed according to the International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) guidelines in patients with BD attending the main tertiary care psychiatry clinics in Sri Lanka to give realistic recommendations for safety monitoring in resource limited settings.

methodsPatients diagnosed with BD on mood stabilizer medications for more than 1 year were recruited. Data were collected retrospectively from clinic and patient held records and compared with the standards of care recommended by ISBD guidelines for safety monitoring of medicines.

resultsOut of 256 patients diagnosed with BD, 164 (64.1%) were on lithium. Only 75 (45.7%) had serum lithium measurements done in the past 6 months and 96 (58.5%) had concentrations recorded at least once in the past year. Blood urea or creatinine was measured in the last 6 months only in 30 (18.3%). Serum electrolytes and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) concentrations were measured in the last year only in 34 (20.7%) and 30 (18.3%) respectively. Calcium concentrations were not recorded in any patient. None of the patients on sodium valproate (n = 119) or carbamazepine (n = 6) had blood levels recorded to establish therapeutic concentrations. Atypical antipsychotics were prescribed for 151 (59%), but only 13 (8.6%) had lipid profiles and only 31 (20.5%) had blood glucose concentration measured annually. Comorbidities experienced by patients influenced monitoring more than the medicines used. Patients with diabetes, hypothyroidism and hypercholesterolemia were more likely to get monitored for fasting blood glucose and (p < 0.001), TSH (p < 0.001) and lipid profiles (p < 0.001). Lithium therapy was associated with TSH monitoring (p < 0.05). Therapy with atypical antipsychotics was not associated with fasting blood glucose or lipid profile monitoring (p > 0.05). A limitation of the study is that although some tests were performed, the results may not have been recorded.

conclusionsSafety monitoring in BD was suboptimal compared to the ISBD guidelines. ISBD standards are difficult to achieve in resource limited settings due to a multitude of reasons. Realistic monitoring benchmarks and recommendations are proposed for methods to improve monitoring in resource limited settings based on our experience.

Indexed as

Health ResourcesAdolescentAdultAgedAntipsychotic AgentsBipolar DisorderDrug MonitoringFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansLithiumMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective StudiesSri LankaTertiary Health CareAntipsychotic AgentsLithiumBipolar disorderClinical auditISBDSafety monitoring

Identifiers

PMID31234824
PMCPMC6591846
OpenAlexW2949642382

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.