Table 1: Main socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of the total sample and diagnostic subgroups.

BD (n=30) BD I (n=15) BD II (n=15) HCs (n=32) P value
Gender (F:M) 11:19 6:9 5:1 14:18 0.1
Age (m + SD) 36.1 (+10.1) 34.3(+10.3) 38.0(+9.6) 31.2(+11.8) 0.4
Education in years (m + SD) 14.3 (+1.6) 14.5(+1.9) 14.0(+1.6) 14.9(+2.1) 0.3
Age of onset (m + SD) 23.9(+6.8) 23.6(+5.8) 24.2(+7.9) - 0.8
Psychiatric comorbidity (%) 40.0 26.6 53.3 - 0.1
Medical comorbidity (%) 36.6 33.3 40.0 - 0.3
Positive family history for psychiatric disorders (%) 56.6 46.6 66.0 - 0.4
DUI (months) (m + SD) 26.2(+18.5) 13.7(+19.2)** 40.6(+50.7) - 0.0004
Number of depressive episodes (m) 6.3 4.0 7.0 - 0.2
Number of manic/mixed/hypomanic episodes (m) 6.6 6.3 7.0 - 0.1
Duration of last episode (days) 32.7 38.6 26.2 - 0.2
Monotherapy (%)
ADs
MSs		 20.0
0
100.0		 20.0
0
100.0		 20.0
0
100.0		 - 0.3

Values for categorical and continuous variables are expressed as n (%) and mean ± SD, respectively.
Standard deviations for continuous variables are shown in brackets.
Statistics: **F=8.503; p<.001
Legend: BD=Bipolar Disorder¸ BD I = Bipolar Disorder I patients, BD II= Bipolar Disorder II patients, HCs=Healthy Controls, DUI=Duration of Untreated Illness; ADs=antidepressants; MSs=mood stabilizers (lithium, anticonvulsants and atypical antipsychotics)