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Table 2 Demographics and illness characteristics in early-onset (≤21 years) subsets of bipolar disorder patients in Argentina and the United States

From: Clinical characteristics of bipolar disorder: a comparative study between Argentina and the United States

 

Argentina ( n= 172)

United States ( n= 393)

p value for difference

Demographic characteristics

   

 Age at intake (years) [mean ± SD]

39.1 ± 13.0

33.3 ± 12.2

<0.0001

 Female [%,(n)]

66.7 (115)

58.5 (230)

0.30

 Single [%,(n)]

67.6 (116)

33.7 (132)

<0.0001

 Unemployed [%,(n)]

25.8 (44)

40.2 (158)

0.001

 Less than 8 years of education [%,(n)]

19.4 (33)

1.5 (6)

<0.0001

 Social outcome [mean ± SD]

9.0 ± 3.5

7.9 ± 5.9

0.03

Clinical characteristics and comorbidities

   

 Bipolar I [%,(n)]

56.4 (97)

44.3 (174)

0.01

 Prior year rapid cycling [%,(n)]

20.5 (35)

40.5 (160)

0.002

 Prior suicide attempt [%,(n)]

54.7 (94)

34.3 (135)

<0.0001

 Prior psychiatric hospitalization [%,(n)]

57.5 (99)

34.9 (137)

<0.0001

 Substance use disorder [%,(n)]a

14.6 (25)

59.8 (235)

<0.0001

 Anxiety disorder [%,(n)]a

11.0 (19)

69.0 (271)

<0.0001

 Illness duration (years) [mean ± SD]

21.9 ± 12.9

18.9 ± 13.3

0.01

 Morbidity index

0.75

0.88

<0.0001

 Number of psychotropic medications [mean ± SD]

2.6 ± 1.0

2.6 ± 1.7

0.73

  1. aDiscrepancy in measures, as described in ‘Methods’ section.