A 2014 article by Anthony James and colleagues in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry reported that hospitalizations for pediatric bipolar disorder are 72.1 times higher in the US than in England.

The researchers determined that there were 100.9 diagnoses of pediatric bipolar disorder per 100,000 people in the US, but only 1.4 cases per 100,000 people in Britain. The discrepancy in diagnoses for adult bipolar disorder and for other childhood psychiatry illnesses were smaller but still notable: While 158.2 adults per 100,000 in the US were diagnosed with bipolar disorder, only 22.1 adults per 100,000 in England received such a diagnosis, making the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in adults 7.2 times more common in the US. Diagnoses of childhood attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were 13.0 times more common in the US than in England, while cases of childhood depression were 4.2 times more common in the US.

James and colleagues hypothesized several potential reasons for the dramatic difference in diagnosis rates at hospital discharge of bipolar disorder in children in the US versus England. The lower hospitalization rates for pediatric bipolar disorder in England may reflect the better availability of community or outpatient treatment options there. Diagnostic practices may also differ. James and colleagues suggested that in the US, pediatric diagnoses of bipolar disorder are often used to describe children and adolescents with irritability and frequent mood shifts, whereas English diagnostic practices rely more on episodic bouts of euphoria to diagnose bipolar disorder in children.

However, children in the US may simply be more likely to have a variety of childhood psychiatric disorders than those from England.

Editor’s Note: Epidemiological data support the view that bipolar disorder not otherwise specified (BP-NOS), which is often the earliest manifestation of bipolar disorder, is indeed much more common in the US than multiple other countries.

Even if there are some diagnostic differences that contribute to the immense 72.1 fold higher rates of hospitalization for childhood bipolar in the US compared to Britain, one cannot overlook the findings that these children are requiring hospitalization for something resembling bipolar disorder and are in need of treatment.