Influence of maternal bipolar disorder on the biological rhythms of their offspring

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the association between maternal diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder (BD) and the biological rhythms of their offspring, and describe the synchronization of biological rhythms among mothers and their offspring. This study included 59 mothers with a diagnosis of BD and 59 mothers who have not been diagnosed with BD at the first stage of the study, as well as their offspring aged 9–11 years. The mothers' biological rhythms were assessed using the Biological Rhythm Interview of Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (BRIAN) and the offspring's biological rhythms were evaluated using the same assessment tool in the kids' version. The offspring of mothers with BD showed a significantly higher disruption of overall biological rhythm when compared to the offspring of mothers without BD. The mothers with BD and their offspring showed a higher disruption of biological rhythms in all the BRIAN/BRIAN-k domains when compared to the mothers without BD and their offspring. Additionally, we identified a positive correlation between the disruption of biological rhythms in mothers and the disruption of biological rhythms in their offspring. It is likely that they synced their own rhythm with the disrupted rhythm of their mothers.

Keywords

• Bipolar disorder offspring
• Circadian rhythm
• Sleep patterns