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CLINICAL AND THERAPEUTICAL ASPECTS OF BIPOLAR DISORDER: THE SWITCH ON DEPAKINE CHRONO® FROM OTHER VALPROATE TREATMENTS – RETROSPECTIVE DATA COLLECTION

MARIA LADEA^1*, MIHAELA CRISTINA ŞINCA², CRISTINA MARIA BARBU³, MIHAI BRAN⁴

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Bipolar disorder is one of the most frequent and severe psychiatric disorder. Sodium valproate proved its efficacy in both manic episodes treatment and in relapses prevention. The primary objective was the assessment of the reasons for switching from another form of valproate on Depakine Chrono® in current medical practice in patients with bipolar disorder (BPD). The study was an open-label, uncontrolled, non-randomized, multicenter, retrospective and non-interventional study. The clinicians included patients with BPD treated for at least 3 months with Depakine Chrono®, after switching from other forms of valproate medication. The main switch reasons from other valproate treatments to Depakine Chrono® in BPD patients were: efficacy in 82.6% of the cases, compliance in 68.4%, and adverse events in 53% of them, taken into account separately or in combination. The overall treatment outcome after 3 months of Depakine Chrono® treatment was a consistent improvement in terms of efficacy, adverse events and compliance. The results of this study are similar with data from the literature, though this retrospective research presents some limitations. Future directions for research are necessary in order to optimise the treatment of patients with BPD with or without associated co-morbidities.