Treatment Patterns Among Patients with Bipolar Disorder in the United States: A Retrospective Claims Database Analysis

Introduction Bipolar disorder is a chronic and complex disorder that can be difficult to treat. The objective of this retrospective study was to describe treatment patterns among patients with bipolar disorder. Methods Adults newly diagnosed with bipolar disorder from 2016 to 2018 were identified using the IBM(R) MarketScan(R) Commercial claims database. Patients were enrolled for at least 12 months prior to and 6 months after initial diagnosis. Lines of therapy (LOTs) were continuous treatment periods based on filled prescriptions; medications, such as antidepressants, mood stabilizers, atypical antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, stimulants, and off-label prescriptions, were recorded. All data were analyzed descriptively. Results A total of 40,345 patients met criteria. The most common initial episode types were bipolar II (38.1%), and bipolar I depression (29.8%), mania (12.8%), and mixed features (12.0%). Among all episode types, approximately 90% of patients received treatment (LOT1) and approximately 80% of these patients received at least one additional LOT. Across all episode types, the most common medication classes in LOT1 (n = 36,587) were mood stabilizers (43.8%), antidepressants (42.3%; 12.9% as monotherapy), atypical antipsychotics (31.7%), and benzodiazepines (20.7%); with subsequent LOTs, antidepressant (51.4-53.8%) and benzodiazepine (26.9-27.4%) usage increased. Also in LOT1, there were 2067 different regimens. Treatment patterns were generally similar across episode type. Conclusions Antidepressants and benzodiazepines were frequently prescribed to treat bipolar disorder despite guidelines recommending against use as frontline therapy. These results highlight the considerable heterogeneity in care and suggest that many clinicians treating bipolar disorder are not using evidence-based prescribing practices.