Bipolar disorder and perceived social support: relation with clinical course, and the role of suicidal behaviour

Figures & data

Table 1. Sociodemographic features of patients with bipolar disorder 1 (n = 100).

	%
Gender
Male	40
Female	60
Marital status
Single	35
Married	45
Divorced	17
Living separately	2
Widow	1
Socioeconomic level
Middle / upper	41
Middle / lower	53
Lower	6
Working status
Active working	43
Retired	10
Unemployed	14
Unable to work	18
	Mean ± SD	Median (Min-Max)
Age	40.9 ± 11.2	42 (20–65)
Education duration (years)	11.6 ± 3.9	11 (2–21)

Note: SD: standard deviation.

Table 2. Clinical features of patients with bipolar disorder 1 (n = 100).

	Mean ± SD	Median (Min–Max)
Age of onset	25.9 ± 9.3	24 (14–54)
Illness duration (years)	14.9 ± 9.7	14 (1–40)
The time until starting treatment (years)	1.4 ± 3.8	0 (0–20)
Total number of episodes	8.0 ± 9.0	5 (1–65)
Number of manic episodes	4.4 ± 4.8	3 (0–22)
Number of depressive episodes	2.4 ± 4.5	1 (0–27)
Number of hospitalizations	2.3 ± 2.9	1 (0–17)
Time under episode (days)	62.3 ± 48.7	45 (7–250)
GAF score	62.1 ± 9.4	61 (43–82)

Note: SD: standard deviation; GAF: global assessment of functioning.

Table 3. Relationship between suicide behaviour and perceived social support in patients with bipolar disorder-I (n = 100).

	Group with suicide attempt history	Group without suicide attempt history
	Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD	p
MDSPSS total	56.4 ± 18.2	63.9 ± 12.3	.03*
MDSPSS family	22.5 ± 6.5	23.7 ± 5.5	.39
MDSPSS friends	18.5 ± 8.3	21.4 ± 8.1	.15
MDSPSS others	16.8 ± 11.4	17.9 ± 8.2	.62

Notes: Student t-test; p* < .05. MDSPSS: multidimensional scale of perceived social support; SD: standard deviation.

Table 4. The relationship between perceived social support and clinical features in patients with bipolar disorder-I (n = 100) (r).

	MDSPSS total	MDSPSS family	MDSPSS friends	MDSPSS others
Total number of episodes	−0.10	−0.18	−0.12	−0.02
The number of depressive episodes	0.02	−0.02	0.01	0.03
Number of manic episodes	−0.13	−0.18	−0.18	−0.02
Number of hospitalizations	−0.11	−0.13	−0.19	−0.03
The time until starting treatment (years)	−0.26*	−0.11	−0.32***	−0.15
Time under episode (days)	−0.30*	−0.26*	−0.28	−0.32
Subthreshold depressive symptoms	−0.19	−0.28*	−0.07	−0.09
Subthreshold manic symptoms	0.08	−0.13	0.05	0.11
Illness duration (years)	−0.26*	−0.21*	−0.34***	−0.08
GAF score	0.37***	0.35***	0.42***	0.25*

Notes: Pearson correlation analysis; p* < .05, p*** < .001. MDSPSS: multidimensional scale of perceived social support; GAF: global assessment of functioning.

Table 5. Logistic regresion analysis of MDSPSS subscales and GAF scores predicting suicide behaviour.

		Wald	OR	% 95 confidence interval	p
Step 1^a	GAF	5.81	0.92	0.87–0.99	.02
	MDSPSS family	1.40	1.06	0.97–1.15	.24
	MDSPSS friends	4.20	1.08	1.01–1.16	.04
	MDSPSS others	0.01	1.002	0.95–1.05	.95
Step 2^a	GAF	5.88	0.92	0.87–0.99	.02
	MDSPSS family	1.47	1.06	0.97–1.15	.23
	MDSPSS friends	4.37	1.08	1.01–1.16	.04
Step 3^a	GAF	4.81	0.93	0.88–0.99	.03
	MDSPSS friends	4.71	1.08	1.01–1.16	.03

Notes: MDSPSS: multidimensional scale of perceived social support; GAF: global assessment of functioning.

^aVariable(s) entered on step 1: MDSPSS family, MDSPSS friends, MDSPSS öthers, GAF.