Social Support in Patients with Bipolar Disorder and Differing Ages at Onset

Objective: The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between age at onset and social support in outpatients with bipolar disorder who were in the recovery phase. We also investigated the association between age at onset and disability.

Methods: A total of 180 bipolar disorder I outpatients, of whom 50 had early onset with age at onset ≤18 years old, 108 had middle onset with age at onset between 19 and 39 years old, and 22 had late onset with age at onset ≥40 years old, were assessed with the Medical Outcomes Study Social Support Scale and Sheehan Disability Scale.

Results: The early onset group had lower tangible social support, longer length of illness, more childless participants, lower income and more suicide attempters than the late onset group.

Conclusions: Early onset seems to have inferior outcomes in tangible social support than late onset, but this trend should be considered as a starting point for future studies.