Comparison of Carbamazepine and Lithium in the Prophylaxis of Bipolar Disorders
- 1 March 1995
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Royal College of Psychiatrists in The British Journal of Psychiatry
- Vol. 166 (3), 378-381
- https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.166.3.378
Abstract
Background: This meta-analysis assessed the equipotency of carbamazepine and lithium prophylaxis in bipolar disorder.Method: We selected only randomised, double-blind, controlled studies comparing carbamazepine with lithium from a manual and computerised search, and subjected them to a quality inventory. Their statistical results were weighted by their quality score and combined. Results. Four studies met our criteria, yielding, overall, P = 0.15. This result is not straightforward because the studies showed significant heterogeneity (P < 0.01).Conclusion: Differences in statistical power and sensitivity of outcome measure explain this heterogeneity and the conflicting results of the studies. Therefore, the prophylactic efficacy of carbamazepine remains questionable.Keywords
This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit:
- Carbamazepine versus lithium in the prophylaxis of bipolar affective disorderActa Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 1992
- Meta-Analytic Procedures for Social ResearchPublished by SAGE Publications ,1991
- Appraising the Quality of Drug-Evaluation ResearchJournal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 1990
- Carbamazepine vs Lithium in the Treatment and Prophylaxis of ManiaThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 1988
- The Effect of Carbamazepine and Lithium on Remission from Affective IllnessThe British Journal of Psychiatry, 1987
- A preliminary double-blind study on the efficacy of carbamazepine in prophylaxis of manic-depressive illnessPsychopharmacology, 1981