Mental health service use by elderly patients with bipolar disorder and unipolar major depression.

Symptoms, functioning, and mental health service use were compared in older outpatients with bipolar disorder and unipolar depression. Bipolar outpatients (n = 37, mean age = 69.7) had higher total symptom severity and positive symptom scores, more impaired community-living skills, and earlier age at onset of illness than patients with unipolar depression (n = 85, mean age = 70.9). Bipolar elderly patients used almost four times the total amount of mental health services and were four times more likely to have had a psychiatric hospitalization over the previous 6 months. These findings underscore the need for effective services for elderly patients with bipolar disorder, who account for a minority of patients with affective disorders, but use a disproportionate amount of costly services.