A privately practicing psychiatrist, Dr. Susan Turner treats patients who live with a broad range of singular disorders and co-morbid conditions. Dr. Susan Turner possesses particular expertise in the treatment of patients who have bipolar disorder in addition to diabetes.
The psychiatric profession has an established understanding that bipolar disorder can increase a person's risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other conditions often associated with aging. According to a recent study conducted through King's College London, this association may stem from a biological susceptibility to faster aging.
The study focused on the comparative structure of telomeres. These protective coverings are located on the edge of each DNA strand and shorten with every replication, until the telomere is short enough that replication is no longer possible. Short telomeres thus correlate with advanced biological age, which may or may not align with chronological age.
Researchers found that individuals with bipolar disorder have shorter telomeres than their non-affected counterparts, and that these patients' immediate relatives had telomeres of similar length. This finding indicates not only that there is likely to be a link between bipolar disorder and faster aging, but also that the genetic predispositions toward the two processes may be connected.
Data also showed that patients who had taken lithium for bipolar disorder did not have notably shorter telomeres than their healthy peers, which reinforces earlier findings that the drug may help to correct rapid aging while simultaneously treating the symptoms of bipolar disorder.
