A new UCLA study identifies a substantially higher risk of alcoholism among bipolar women than previously considered, suggesting a need to monitor alcohol use closely among female patients with the disorder.

Published in the May edition of the peer-reviewed American Journal of Psychiatry, the study found that men with bipolar disorder and alcoholism have a deeper family history of bipolar disorder, alcoholism and drug abuse compared to other men with bipolar disorder. In contrast, alcoholism in women with bipolar disorder was associated less with family background and more with bouts of depression and social anxieties.

The researchers found the prevalence of alcoholism in bipolar men (49 percent) versus bipolar women (29 percent) involved in the study mirrored that of the general population. However, epidemiological patterns of the illness left bipolar women with more than seven times the risk of alcoholism than that of other women, while the risk for bipolar males was less than three times that of other men.

“Our findings show that while the prevalence of alcoholism is higher in bipolar men, the risk for developing alcoholism is far greater in women. There’s something about ‘Jane Bipolar’ that puts her at higher risk for alcoholism. That point has not been fully appreciated until now,� said Dr. Mark Frye, a director of the Mood Disorders Research Program at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute.

Other studies have noted serious consequences of alcohol abuse in women. The National Longitudinal Alcohol Epidemiology Survey found that women had a higher rate of binge drinking and acute intoxication than men and were less likely to receive treatment for alcoholism.

“We know that many bipolar patients try to self-medicate their depressive symptoms with alcohol, drinking to numb themselves, or help them with sleep. But we have limited controlled studies to guide patients and physicians on how to help these people get better,� said Frye, an assistant professor-in-residence of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

“We need to address this toxic combination of elevated risk and serious consequences by pinpointing clinical relationships between bipolar disorder and alcoholism in women that will allow researchers to develop more effective treatment and prevention programs,� Frye said.

Bipolar disorder is characterized by alternating cycles of depression and mania. Symptoms of mania include elevated or expansive mood, inflated sense of self-esteem or self-importance, decreased need for sleep, racing thoughts and impulsive behavior. Overall, about 3.5 percent of the population has bipolar disorder, occurring equally between men and women.

In conducting their study, the researchers used structured clinical interviews to evaluate the prevalence of lifetime alcoholism in 267 outpatients enrolled in the Stanley Foundation Bipolar Network. They used patient-rated and clinician-administered questionnaires to assess the relationship of alcoholism with the disorder. The research was supported by the Theodore and Vada Stanley Foundation.

The UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute is an interdisciplinary research and education institute devoted to the understanding of complex human behavior, including the genetic, biological, behavioral and sociocultural underpinnings of normal behavior, and the causes and consequences of neuropsychiatric disorders.