Treatment of bipolar disorder in the Netherlands and concordance with treatment guidelines: study protocol of an observational longitudinal study on naturalistic treatment of bipolar disorder in everyday clinical practice

摘要

BackgroundWhile various guidelines on the treatment of bipolar disorder have been published over the last decades, adherence to guidelines has been reported to be low. In this article we describe the protocol of a nationwide, multicenter, longitudinal, non-intervention study on the treatment of bipolar disorder in the Netherlands. Study aims are to provide information on the nature and content of outpatient treatment of bipolar disorder, to determine to what extent treatment is in concordance with the Dutch guideline for the treatment of bipolar disorder (2008), and to investigate the relationship of guideline concordance with symptomatic and functional outcome.