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Lithium in Older Age Bipolar Disorder

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Bipolar Disorder in Older Age Patients

Abstract

Lithium remains the gold-standard medication for bipolar disorder, with 30–40 % of older patients responding preferentially to its use. However, its use is limited by potential medical adverse effects. Medical effects include renal disease (nephrogenic diabetes insipidus, acute kidney injury, and chronic kidney disease), endocrine disease (hyperparathyroidism, hypothyroidism, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes mellitus), neurological effects (delirium, dementia, and Parkinson’s disease), and other effects (e.g., dermatological effects). This chapter provides an overview of the epidemiology of these effects with an emphasis on geriatric data and potential mechanisms underlying these medical effects, as well as guidance on lithium dosing and other strategies to minimize lithium-associated medical effects in older age bipolar disorder.

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  1. Division of Geriatric Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Institute for Community and Family Psychiatry, Jewish General Hospital, 4333 Cote-Ste-Catherine, Room 147, Montreal, QC, H3T 1E4, Canada

    Soham Rej

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  1. School of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, BALTIMORE, Maryland, USA

    Susan W. Lehmann

  2. Department of Psychiatry, McLean Hospital Harvard Medical School, Belmont, Massachusetts, USA

    Brent P. Forester

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Rej, S. (2017). Lithium in Older Age Bipolar Disorder. In: Lehmann, S., Forester, B. (eds) Bipolar Disorder in Older Age Patients. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48912-4_7

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