CLINICAL AND THERAPEUTICAL ASPECTS OF BIPOLAR
DISORDER: THE SWITCH ON DEPAKINE CHRONO® FROM OTHER
VALPROATE TREATMENTS – RETROSPECTIVE DATA
COLLECTION
MARIA LADEA1*, MIHAELA CRISTINA ŞINCA2, CRISTINA MARIA BARBU3, MIHAI BRAN4
1University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, Clinical Hospital of Psychiatry “Alexandru Obregia”, Bucharest, Romania
2Balneomedcenter Hospital, Ramnicu-Valcea, Romania
3Amiris Clinic, Bucharest, Romania
4Coltea Hospital, Bucharest, Romania
*corresponding author: marialadea@gmail.com
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Abstract:
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.

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