Le lithium chez le sujet bipolaire âgé

Regarding the burden of mental disorders in elderly patients, including morbidity and mortality, especially by suicide, and impairment of quality of life and functional autonomy, there is a need to take into account special health care needs of elderly persons. In bipolar disorders, lithium tends to be under-prescribed in elderly patients, while it is still a first line choice in guidelines. If it is true that there is a lack of controlled studies on effectiveness of lithium in elderly patients, available data from lithium side effects, especially on renal function, don’t justify this under-utilization. Moreover, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects of lithium may be of particular interest in ageing, in preventing and/or controlling the occurrence of some neurodegenerative process.