Subthreshold symptoms in bipolar disorder: Impact on quality of life

Introduction Several studies have analyzed the influence of bipolar disorder (BD) related to many kinds of functioning. Even if it is obvious that patients in relapse have poor quality of live (QoL), what's about it in interictal phases with subthreshold symptoms? Aims To study the potential relationship between QoL and subthreshold symptoms in bipolar I patients in remission. Objective To evaluate the above relationship, we hypothesized that subsyndromic BD phases can be related to worse subjectively QoL. Methods This was a cross-sectional study. Forty-four BD patients were enrolled. The subthreshold symptoms were evaluated by Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) and Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS). Patients with HDRS lower than 7 and YMSR lower than 6 were the successful applicants. Then, we run the Tunisian version of SF-36 to measure the QoL. Results Twenty-seven men and seventeen women with an average age of 39.3 years were selected. Age of beginning of BD was 31.5 years and patients were in relapse since 1.56 years. The HDRS's average score was 2.73. Twenty patients (45.5%) have an HDRS upper than 4. The YMRS's average score was 2.25 and twenty-nine BD's patients have a score between 1 and 6. The overall average score at SF-36 scale were 64.2 and 25% of BD patient with subthreshold symptoms had a poor QoL. Conclusions Subsyndromic interictal phases affect the QoL of BD patients and it's necessary to introduce therapy adapted according to troubles in order to improve patient's quality of life and functioning.