In France, bipolar disorders affect approximately 2% of the adult population, or 1.3 million people. These mood disorders are characterized by an alternation of depressive phases and phases of exaltation (known as “manic”) which lead to significant disorders, particularly in terms of emotions and behavior.
Bipolar disorders can also be the cause of sleep disorders, addictions, cognitive disorders… and suicide attempts.
To date, the concrete impact of bipolar disorders on the body remains poorly understood. Precisely: researchers from the Karolinska Institutet (in Sweden) were interested in the direct consequences of bipolar disorders on the brain.
Brain changes that could explain worsening bipolar symptoms
The Swedish researchers worked from medical data and the results of MRI examinations concerning 307 people suffering from bipolar disorder and 925 non-sick people.
Results ? Scientists have observed that in people with bipolar disorder who suffer from frequent manic episodes, the cerebral cortex (this is the outermost layer of the brain) is abnormally thin. In addition, patients affected by bipolar disorders presented cerebral ventricles (these are the cavities that contain the cerebrospinal fluid) that enlarged faster than average.
For the Swedish researchers, these findings could explain (at least in part) the worsening of symptoms of bipolar disorder over time. They thus evoke the hypothesis of a “neuroprogressive” disease.
This work was published in the scientific journal Biological Psychiatry.
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