a comparison of pattern of psychiatric symptoms in inpatients with bipolar disorder type one with & without methamphetamine use

background: iran is facing an outbreak of methamphetamine-induced disorders and frequent use of these substances in patients with bipolar disorder. using or intoxication of methamphetamine in patients with bipolar i disorder may alter the patient's clinical profile; however there is limited studies about impact of methamphetamine on clinical manifestation of bipolar disorders. this study aimed to compare psychiatric symptoms in patients with bipolar i disorder with and without concomitant use of methamphetamine.   methods: in a cross-sectional study, psychiatric symptoms of bipolar i disorder in patients with (meth+) and without (meth-) methamphetamine use was evaluated. a number of 57 participants with meth + and 50 subjects with meth- were recruited. the clinical picture of bipolar disorder was investigated by young mania rating scale (ymrs), 17-item hamilton depressive rating scale (hdrs-17) and the scale for assessment of positive symptoms (saps). statistical comparisons were performed using the t-test for independent samples and mann-whitney test.   results: there was no statistically significant difference between two groups regarding age, duration of illness and hospitalizations. however, male participants were significantly higher in meth+ group than in meth- one (p< 0.001). the mean (± sd) scores in the two groups of  meth+ and meth-  for ymrs, hdrs, and saps were 31.3 (±1.3) and 34.0 (±1.2), 13.7 (±0.7) and 13.5±(0.5), and 50.0 (±1.9) and  48.0 (±2.1), respectively, which were not statistically significant (p< 0.05).   conclusion: there was no significant difference in the overall clinical manifestation of bipolar i disorder in patients with and without methamphetamine use. however, in some symptomatology domains, there were some differences between the two groups.