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Abnormalities in Motor Physiology in Bipolar Disorder

Received March 27, 2005; revised May 24, 2005; accepted June 1, 2005. Drs. Lohr and Caligiuri are affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, California. Dr. Lohr is also affiliated with Psychiatry Services, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, California. Address correspondence to Dr. Caligiuri, Movement Disorders Laboratory Department of Psychiatry (0603), University of California–San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093; mcaligiuri{at}ucsd.edu (E-mail).

The primary purpose of this study was to examine motor physiology disturbances in a group of patients with bipolar disorder by using sensitive instrumental procedures. The secondary aim of the study was to examine the effects of the affective state on motor functions. The authors studied 67 individuals meeting DSM-IV criteria for bipolar disorder and 47 healthy comparison subjects. Electromechanical measures of force steadiness and scaling of movement velocity to distance were performed. The authors found that performance on the force steadiness and velocity scaling measures was significantly poorer in the subjects with bipolar disorder, with 58% and 63% of the patients scoring outside the normal range on the force steadiness and velocity scaling measures, respectively. Eighty-four percent of subjects showed impairment on either measure, and 37% showed impairment on both measures. The force steadiness and velocity scaling abnormalities appeared to occur independently of one another and also were not associated with affective state or current medication status. This study demonstrates that motor abnormalities suggestive of basal ganglia dysfunction occur in many patients with bipolar disorder.

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