Abstract
People with bipolar disorder (BD) have an increased risk of premature mortality and the respiratory mortality rate is higher than those of the general population. To date, however, the evidence on respiratory disease in this population has not been meta-analyzed. We systematically review and meta-analyze the frequency of respiratory diseases in patients with BD and to compare prevalence and odds ratio (OR) with the general population. The systematic literature search was conducted in Pubmed, PsycINFO, Scielo and Scopus, with snowball search of reference and citation lists. Inclusion criteria were studies reporting diagnoses of respiratory diseases (asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), pneumonia, lung cancer and tuberculosis) in people with BD according to operationalized criteria and where possible, control group. Of the 2158 articles screened, 20 including 962,352 people with BD and 37,340,405 control group, met the inclusion criteria. In people with BD, the prevalence of COPD was 9.14% (95%CI: 6.61–12.5%), asthma 6.4% (95%CI: 4.56–8.91%), pneumonia 2.78% (95%CI: 2.51–3.08%) and lung cancer 0.44% (95%CI:0.23–0.84%). Compared to the general population, people with BD had significantly higher rates of COPD (OR: 1.73; 95% CI: 1.40–2.14), showing an increased rate in younger and female patients; asthma (OR: 1.91, 95% CI: 1.25–2.94), with a greater rate in younger patients; and pneumonia (OR: 2.82, 95% CI: 1.33–5.99). In the first meta-analysis on the topic, BD was associated with an increased risk of respiratory illness versus the general population. In COPD and asthma, young people and women are at particular risk. Prevention programs are urgently needed.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank María P. Pata for her invaluable support in data analysis.
Funding
This study received founding by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI20/01657) and the European Union via the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), “Una manera de hacer Europa”. Funders were not involved in any stage of project.
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Study concept and design: FS, MJJ-M, DL-M, AJ-P, JC-V. Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: DL-M, AJ-P, MJJ-M, CC-R, MIK. Drafting the manuscript: FS, AJ-P, DL-M. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: EV, JC-V, FR-V. Statistical analysis: DL-M, AJ-P, AJ-M, FS, CC-R. Administrative, technical, or material support: GIdP, CC-R, MIK. Study supervision: FS, MJJ-M, JC-V.
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EV has received grants and served as consultant, advisor or CME speaker for the following entities: AB-Biotics, AbbVie, Adamed, Angelini, Biogen, Beckley-Psytech, Biohaven, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Celon Pharma, Compass, Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma, Ethypharm, Ferrer, Gedeon Richter, GH Research, Glaxo-Smith Kline, HMNC, Idorsia, Johnson & Johnson, Lundbeck, Luye Pharma, Medincell, Merck, Newron, Novartis, Orion Corporation, Organon, Otsuka, Roche, Rovi, Sage, Sanofi-Aventis, Sunovion, Takeda, Teva, and Viatris, outside the submitted work. FS during the last 5 years has been speaker for Rovi and Janssen-Cilag. DL-M during the last 5 years has been speaker for Lundbeck. All other authors report no biomedical financial interests or potential conflicts of interests related with this manuscript.
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Laguna-Muñoz, D., Jiménez-Peinado, A., Jaén-Moreno, M.J. et al. Respiratory disease in people with bipolar disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Mol Psychiatry 30, 777–785 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-024-02793-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-024-02793-1


