Treatment of bipolar disorder in the Netherlands and concordance with treatment guidelines: study protocol of an observational, longitudinal study on naturalistic treatment of bipolar disorder in everyday clinical practice

BMC Psychiatry

Study Protocol

Joannes W Renes¹  Eline J Regeer¹  Ralph W Kupka²  Willem A Nolen³  Trijntje YG van der Voort⁴ 

[1] Altrecht Institute for Mental Health Care, Lange Nieuwstraat 119, 3512, Utrecht, PG, The Netherlands;Altrecht Institute for Mental Health Care, Lange Nieuwstraat 119, 3512, Utrecht, PG, The Netherlands;Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, A.J. Ernststraat 1187, 1081, Amsterdam, HL, The Netherlands;Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center, University of Groningen, Hanzeplein 1, 9713, Groningen, GZ, The Netherlands;Department of Psychiatry, VU University Medical Center, A.J. Ernststraat 1187, 1081, Amsterdam, HL, The Netherlands;

关键词: Bipolar disorder;    Clinical practice;    Guidelines;    Care as usual;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-244X-14-58

 received in 2013-09-26, accepted in 2014-02-18,  发布年份 2014

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundWhile various guidelines on the treatment of bipolar disorder have been published over the last decades, adherence to guidelines has been reported to be low. In this article we describe the protocol of a nationwide, multicenter, longitudinal, non-intervention study on the treatment of bipolar disorder in the Netherlands. Study aims are to provide information on the nature and content of outpatient treatment of bipolar disorder, to determine to what extent treatment is in concordance with the Dutch guideline for the treatment of bipolar disorder (2008), and to investigate the relationship of guideline concordance with symptomatic and functional outcome.Methods/DesignBetween December 2009 and February 2010, all psychiatrists registered as member of the Dutch Psychiatric Association received a questionnaire with questions about their treatment setting, and whether they would be willing to participate in further research. Psychiatrists treating adult outpatients with bipolar disorder were invited to participate. Consenting psychiatrist subsequently approached all their patients with bipolar disorder. The study is performed with written patient and caregiver surveys at baseline and after 12 months, including data on demographics, illness characteristics, organization of care, treatments received, symptomatic and functional outcome, quality of life, and burden of care for informal caregivers.DiscussionThis study will provide information on the naturalistic treatment of bipolar disorder in the Netherlands, as well as degree of concordance of this treatment with the Dutch guideline, and its relationship with symptomatic and functional outcome. Limitations of a survey-based study are discussed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Renes et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014