ArticlePharmacoepidemiology and drug safety2021
Bipolar disorder prevalence and psychotropic medication utilisation in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom.
Article in Pharmacoepidemiology and drug safety, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- HLA genotype testing for carbamazepine, oxcarbazepine and eslicarbazepine: A guideline developed by the UK Centre of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation in Pharmacogenomics (CERSI-PGx).British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Guideline
- Association of antipsychotic use with breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies with over 2 million individuals.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2022Pooled it
- Trends in the Use of Atypical Antipsychotics Among Children and Adolescents With Bipolar Spectrum Disorders in Korea.Bipolar disorders · 2026Article
- Characteristics of people with severe mental illness excluded from incentivised physical health checks in the UK: electronic healthcare record study.The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
- Examining valproate's potential anticancer effect among patients with bipolar disorder: a territory-wide active-comparator new user study spanning two decades.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Treatment Patterns for Incident Bipolar Disorder Among Nonrefugee Immigrants, Refugees, Second-Generation Immigrants, and Host Population in Sweden.Bipolar disorders · 2025Article
- Challenges of lithium prescription in bipolar disorders in Nigeria.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Lithium Use During Pregnancy in 14 Countries.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- Effects of antipsychotic drugs during radiotherapy in breast cancer in South Korea: a retrospective cohort study.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- International Trends in Lithium Use for Pharmacotherapy and Clinical Correlates in Bipolar Disorder: A Scoping Review.Brain sciences · 2024Article
- Article
- Prevalence and demographic variation of cardiovascular, renal, metabolic, and mental health conditions in 12 million english primary care records.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2023Article
- Twenty-year medication use trends in first-episode bipolar disorder.Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica · 2022Article
- Lithium and Valproate in Bipolar Disorder: From International Evidence-based Guidelines to Clinical Predictors.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeBipolar disorder (BPD) is often an under-addressed mental disorder. Limited studies have investigated its epidemiology and drug utilisation in Hong Kong (HK) and the United Kingdom (UK) and thus local prescribing practices remain unclear. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of BPD and the prescribing of psychotropic medications as maintenance treatment from 2001-2018 in HK and the UK.
methodA retrospective study using the data from Clinical Data Analysis and Reporting System in HK and IQVIA Medical Research Data in the UK.
resultsThe prevalence of BPD diagnosis in HK and the UK more than doubled during the study period. Some distinct changes in prescribing patterns over time were observed. Lithium use declined by 2.46% and 14.58% in HK and the UK, respectively. By 2018, patients were 4.6 times more likely to receive antidepressant monotherapy in the UK versus HK (15.62% vs. 3.42%). In HK, 38.41% of women of childbearing age were prescribed valproate in 2018 compared with 8.46% in the UK.
conclusionThe prevalence of BPD diagnosis has been increasing in HK and the UK. The disparity in prescribing patterns of BPD maintenance treatment in two regions reflected three major issues in clinical practice: (1) under-prescribing of lithium in both regions, (2) antidepressant monotherapy in the UK and (3) overprescribing of valproate to women of childbearing age in HK. A review of current clinical treatment guidelines and regulations of prescribing practice by local clinicians should be immediately implemented to ensure the safe use of medications in patients with BPD.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.