Velosa J, et al. - Researchers examined if the rate of dementia increases with bipolar disorder (BD) and if lithium is related to a reduced risk of dementia in BD. The meta-analysis included a total of 10 studies (6,859 BD; 487,966 controls) for testing BD as a risk factor for dementia and included five studies (6,483 lithium; 43,496 non-lithium), in addition, to assess the potential protective effect of lithium in BD. Findings suggest a higher risk of dementia among individuals with BD than both the general population or those with major depressive disorder. Seemingly, the risk of developing dementia reduces in BD with lithium.