Home › Research › Digital health tools
Brain age in bipolar disorders: Effects of lithium treatment
Van Gestel H, Franke K, Petite J, Slaney C, Garnham J, Helmick C, Johnson K, Uher R et al.. The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry, 2019-06-27
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Objective Bipolar disorders increase the risk of dementia and show biological and brain alterations, which resemble accelerated aging. Lithium may counter some of these processes and lower the risk of dementia. However, until now no study has specifically investigated the effects of Li on brain age. Methods We acquired structural magnetic resonance imaging scans from 84 participants with bipolar disorders (41 with and 43 without Li treatment) and 45 controls. We used a machine learning model trained on an independent sample of 504 controls to estimate the individual brain ages of study participants, and calculated BrainAGE by subtracting chronological from the estimated brain age. Results BrainAGE was significantly greater in non-Li relative to Li or control participants, F (2, 125) = 10.22, p t (42) = 4.43, p BrainAGE than the non-Li group, F (1, 64) = 4.80, p = 0.03. Conclusions Bipolar disorders were associated with greater, whereas Li treatment with lower discrepancy between brain and chronological age. These findings support the neuroprotective effects of Li, which were sufficiently pronounced to affect a complex, multivariate measure of brain structure. The association between Li treatment and BrainAGE was independent of long-term thymoprophylactic response and thus may generalize beyond bipolar disorders, to neurodegenerative disorders.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Van Gestel, H., Franke, K., Petite, J., Slaney, C., Garnham, J., Helmick, C., et al. (2019). Brain age in bipolar disorders: Effects of lithium treatment. The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004867419857814
Vancouver
Van Gestel H, Franke K, Petite J, Slaney C, Garnham J, Helmick C, et al. Brain age in bipolar disorders: Effects of lithium treatment. The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry. 2019. doi:10.1177/0004867419857814. PMID: 31244332.
BibTeX
@article{vangestel2019-31244332,
author = {Van Gestel, H. and Franke, K. and Petite, J. and Slaney, C. and Garnham, J. and Helmick, C. and Johnson, K. and Uher, R. and others},
title = {{Brain age in bipolar disorders: Effects of lithium treatment}},
journal = {The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1177/0004867419857814},
pmid = {31244332},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1177/0004867419857814}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Key findings
- Results BrainAGE was significantly greater in non-Li relative to Li or control participants, F (2, 125) = 10.22, p t (42) = 4.43, p BrainAGE than the non-Li group, F (1, 64) = 4.80, p = 0.03.
- Conclusions Bipolar disorders were associated with greater, whereas Li treatment with lower discrepancy between brain and chronological age.
- These findings support the neuroprotective effects of Li, which were sufficiently pronounced to affect a complex, multivariate measure of brain structure.
Why it matters
In people with bipolar disorders, lithium treatment was associated with lower discrepancy between brain and chronological age, suggesting neuroprotective effects that may generalize to neurodegenerative disorders. This study did not directly examine Alzheimer's disease treatment, cure, or prevention.
New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Digital health →
Study details
- Participants84
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 45/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry) |
| Journal's citation record | 2 / 4 | Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry: journal h-index 180 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 2 / 5 | 2019 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 84 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 4 / 7 | Cited 79 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 8.8 citations a year over 9 year(s) since 2019 |
| Impact for its field and year | 3 / 6 | Cited 6.1× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 2 / 4 | Cited 34 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author Tomáš Hájek: h-index 56 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 1 / 3 | Dalhousie University: institution h-index 778 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 3 institution(s) in 3 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 31244332) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 45 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
May need a subscription OpenAlex found no free copy of the full text (checked 6 Feb 1020), so the publisher may charge for it. The PubMed abstract is free.
Related
Studies in the library that share something with this one. The line above each title says what.
Related studies in Digital health tools
Also tagged “disorder”
492 studies in the library carry the topic tag “disorder”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 492 tagged studies.