Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32158009›Full record

SynthesisJournal of affective disorders2020

Parental bipolar disorder, family environment, and offspring psychiatric disorders: A systematic review.

Emma K Stapp, Tamar Mendelson, Kathleen R Merikangas, Holly C Wilcox

Abstract readSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Journal of affective disorders, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
27citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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

27 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

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  7. Hope Through Tales: Through the Eyes of a Child of a Parent With Bipolar Disorder.Journal of psychiatric and mental health nursing · 2026
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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

4 authors.

Emma K StappDepartment of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA; Genetic Epidemiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. Electronic address: emma.stapp@nih.gov.
Tamar MendelsonDepartment of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Kathleen R MerikangasGenetic Epidemiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Holly C WilcoxDepartment of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA.

Funding

Family Study of Affective and Anxiety Spectrum DisordersZIAMH002804 · NIMH · NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH · PI MERIKANGAS, KATHLEEN R · 2009 to 2025
$37.5M
PSYCHIATRIC EPIDEMIOLOGY TRAINING PROGRAMT32MH014592 · NIMH · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI HEATHER E VOLK, Peter P. Zandi · 1985 to 2026
$8.5M
Intramural NIH HHS Z99 MH999999NIMH NIH HHS T32 MH014592
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundOur objective was to systematically review non-experimental studies of parental bipolar disorder (BD), current family environment, and offspring psychiatric disorders to identify characteristics of family environment associated with parental BD and risk for offspring psychiatric disorders.

methodsCINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, and PubMed were searched using MeSH terms to identify studies on offspring of BD parents published through September 2017. We followed PRISMA guidelines and used the Risk of Bias Assessment Tool for Nonrandomized Studies (RoBANS). We calculated prevalence ratios and 95% confidence intervals to compare offspring psychiatric disorders within and across studies.

resultsOf 10,454 unique documents retrieved, we included 13 studies. The most consistent finding was lower parent-reported cohesion in families with a BD parent versus no parental psychiatric disorders. Family environment did not differ between BD parents and parents with other disorders. Offspring of BD parents had higher prevalence of psychiatric disorders than offspring of parents without psychiatric disorders but did not differ from offspring of parents with other disorders. Families with a BD child had higher conflict than families without a BD child. LIMITATIONS: Comparisons between studies were qualitative. A single reviewer conducted screening, data extraction, and bias assessment.

conclusionsFamily environment in families with a BD parent is heterogeneous. The pattern of findings across studies also suggests that family problems may be associated with parental psychiatric illness generally rather than parental BD in particular. Few studies included offspring-reported measures. Given the association of family conflict with offspring mood disorders, further study is merited on children's perceptions of the family environment in the BD high-risk context.

Indexed as

Bipolar DisorderChild of Impaired ParentsChildFamily ConflictHumansMood DisordersParentsBipolar disorderFamily environmentHigh-riskParenting, family climate

Identifiers

PMID32158009
PMCPMC7175999

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.