Circadian misalignment in mood episodes and the possibility of a novel treatment modality of controlling circadian rhythm using ICT technology

摘要

Circadian misalignment in mood episodes and the possibility of a novel treatment modality of controlling circadian rhythm using ICT technology Bipolar disorder is a common mental disorder characterized by mood disturbances with alternating episodes of mania and depression. Circadian rhythms are rhythms of about 24h found in many body functions. In the previous study, we repeatedly measured circadian rhythms in bipolar disorder patients during hospitalization. Acute manic episodes were associated with cir- cadian dysregulation of ~7h phase advances, mixed manias were >6 h delayed, whereas bipolar depression was associated with 4-5 h phase delays compared to the controls. After treatment, the shifted rhythms recovered to the normal range. This suggested that novel chronotherapy approaches based on our findings might be found useful for the prevention and treatment of bipolar disorder. Based on this finding, the present study was conducted to evaluate the mood state or episode, activity, sleep, light exposure, and heart rate during a period of about 2 years by acquiring various dig- ital log data through wearable devices and smartphone apps as well as conventional clinical assessments. We investigated a mood prediction algorithm developed with machine learning using pas- sive data phenotypes based on circadian rhythms. We also suggest the possibility of circadian rhythm control in the treatment and management of bipolar disorder with ICT technologies from the preliminary results of a long-term prospective case-control pilot study.