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Objective:Bipolar disorders increase the risk of dementia and show biological and brain alterations, which resemble accelerated aging. Lithium may counter some of these processes and lower the risk of dementia. However, until now no study has specifically investigated the effects of Li on brain age.Methods:We acquired structural magnetic resonance imaging scans from 84 participants with bipolar disorders (41 with and 43 without Li treatment) and 45 controls. We used a machine learning model trained on an independent sample of 504 controls to estimate the individual brain ages of study participants, and calculated BrainAGE by subtracting chronological from the estimated brain age.Results:BrainAGE was significantly greater in non-Li relative to Li or control participants, F(2, 125) = 10.22, p Conclusions:Bipolar disorders were associated with greater, whereas Li treatment with lower discrepancy between brain and chronological age. These findings support the neuroprotective effects of Li, which were sufficiently pronounced to affect a complex, multivariate measure of brain structure. The association between Li treatment and BrainAGE was independent of long-term thymoprophylactic response and thus may generalize beyond bipolar disorders, to neurodegenerative disorders.

Objective: Several papers have reported higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) type 2 in patients suffering from bipolar disorder (BD). The possible links between these 2 disorders include treatment, lifestyle, alterations in signal transduction, and possibly, a genetic link. To study this relation more closely, we investigated whether there are any differences in the clinical characteristics of BD patients with and without DM. Method: We compared the clinical data of 26 diabetic and 196 nondiabetic subjects from The Maritime Bipolar Registry. Subjects were aged 15 to 82 years, with psychiatric diagnoses of BD I ( n = 151), BD II ( n = 65), and BD not otherwise specified ( n = 6). The registry included basic demographic data and details on the clinical course of bipolar illness, its treatment, and physical comorbidity. In a subsequent analysis using logistic regression, we examined the variables showing differences between groups, with diabetes as an outcome variable. Results: The prevalence of DM in our sample was 11.7% ( n = 26). Diabetic patients were significantly older than nondiabetic patients ( P < 0.001), had higher rates of rapid cycling ( P = 0.02) and chronic course of BD ( P = 0.006), scored lower on the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale ( P = 0.01), were more often on disability for BD ( P < 0.001), and had higher body mass index ( P < 0.001) and increased frequency of hypertension ( P = 0.003). Lifetime history of treatment with antipsychotics was not significantly associated with an elevated risk of diabetes ( P = 0.16); however, the data showed a trend toward more frequent use of antipsychotic medication among diabetic subjects. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the diagnosis of DM in BD patients is relevant for their prognosis and outcome.