Late-life mania: A brief review

Abstract

There is a relative lack of evidence relating to specific etiology and management of late-onset bipolar illness and first episode mania in the elderly. This is despite a significant number of older patients presenting with this condition and a potential increase in prevalence with steady growth of the elderly population all over the world. There are also several distinct features of late-life mania that distinguish it from the adult onset manic presentation. Also, clinical diagnosis of late life mania may be difficult to establish at times due to the presence of several comorbidities and the potential overlap of symptomotology with other common disorders such as delirium and dementia. This review attempts to summarize the current knowledge of bipolar affective disorder, specifically late onset mania in the elderly and consider important factors that need to be accounted for its diagnosis, investigation, and management.

Keywords

• Bipolar disorder
• diagnosis
• late-onset mania
• management