Depression and low quality of life is commonly found in people with bipolar disorder and this is also dependent on the levels of cortisol found in people suffering from it, a new study shows.
Researchers at the Umeå University conducted the study on 145 patients with bipolar disorder. The control group had same number of participants.
The study findings revealed that more than half of bipolar disorder patients who had lower levels of cortisol also had depression.
Researchers found that having low quality of life was six times more common in patients with low cortisol levels and nearly five times more common among those with high cortisol levels. Researchers compared these patients with others who exhibited normal activity in the stress system. Depression also was twice as common in people with low or elevated levels of cortisol.
"In bipolar depression the stress system is often activated, which means that the affected individuals have elevated cortisol levels in the blood. We have now been able to show that both over- and underactivity in the stress system, with corresponding elevated or reduced cortisol levels, can impair mental health in terms of depression and poor quality of life in these patients," Martin Maripuu, a PhD student at the Department of Clinical Sciences, Psychiatry Unit Umeå University and physician at the psychiatric clinic, Östersund Hospital, said in a press release.
Researchers said that the findings are important as in the future could contribute to a more personally tailored medical treatment of bipolar disorder. Moreover, the results may also eventually lead to the development of new drugs that work by normalizing the stress system and cortisol levels.
A recent study on bipolar disorder revealed that children of parents with the condition were more likely to involve themselves in risky behavior. Researchers said that these children engage in risky criminal sexual behavior, are likely to commit suicide, self-harm and smoke.
Previous researches showed that children of bipolar disorder patients were more likely to develop mental conditions.
The findings were published in the journal PLOS ONE.
