Seasonal changes, sleep length and circadian preference among twins with bipolar disorder

BMC Psychiatry

Jouko Lönnqvist¹  Jaakko Kaprio²  Markku Koskenvuo⁴  Timo Partonen¹  Tuula Kieseppä¹  Carolina Johansson³  Reeta Hakkarainen¹ 

[1] Department of Mental Health and Alcohol Research, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland;Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland;Department of Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden;Department of Public Health, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

关键词: Weather;    Twin;    Season;    Mood;    Circadian type;    Bipolar disorder;   

Others  :  1125162
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-244X-3-6

 received in 2003-03-28, accepted in 2003-06-09,  发布年份 2003

【 摘 要 】

Background

We aimed at studying the seasonal changes in mood and behaviour, the distribution of hospital admissions by season, and the persistence of the circadian type in twins with bipolar disorder and their healthy co-twins.

Methods

All Finnish like-sex twins born from 1940 to 1969 were screened for a diagnosis of bipolar type I disorder. The diagnosis was assessed with a structured research interview, and the study subjects (n = 67) filled in the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ) and the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ). For studying the persistence of the habitual sleep length and circadian type, we used data derived from the Finnish Twin Cohort Questionnaire (FTCQ). Bipolar twins were compared with their healthy co-twins.

Results

Bipolar twins had greater seasonal changes in sleep length (p = 0.01) and mood (p = 0.01), and higher global seasonality scores (p = 0.03) as compared with their co-twins with no mental disorder. Sunny days (p = 0.03) had a greater positive effect on wellbeing in the bipolar than healthy co-twins.

Conclusions

Our results support the view that bipolar disorder is sensitive to the environmental influence in general and to the seasonal effect in specific. Exposure to natural light appears to have a substantial effect on wellbeing in twins with bipolar disorder.

【 授权许可】

   
2003 Hakkarainen et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article: verbatim copying and redistribution of this article are permitted in all media for any purpose, provided this notice is preserved along with the article's original URL.

【 图 表 】

Figure 2.

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