Authors: Rapaport M, et al. Title: Effects of lamotrigine on quality of life in patients with bipolar I disorder. Reference: European Neuropsychopharmacology. The Journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology 2003;13(Suppl 4):S457. Purpose: To describe the effects of lamotrigine monotherapy and combination therapy on self-reported quality of life in bipolar I disorder. Study design: Open-label phase of two large clinical trials. Follow up: 8–16 weeks. Patients: 564 patients (401 with index depression, 163 with index mania). Treatment: Lamotrigine 100–200 mg/day was given to patients as monotherapy or as combination therapy while other drugs were being discontinued. Results: There was a significant improvement in quality of life for all patients with index depression and index mania (except vitality) treated with lamotrigine. For patients with index depression receiving lamotrigine monotherapy, there were significant improvements in 7 out of 8 sub-scales used to measure quality of life; and for patients with index mania, there were significant improvements in 6 out of 8 subscales.
