In addition to the clinical correlates described above, study data replicated prior findings that younger age is also associated with CUD comorbidity in BD [6]. However, inconsistent with some prior research in BD samples [6,7,19,20], there was no evidence in the current study for significant associations between CUD comorbidity and male sex, marital status, or functional impairment, as measured by GAF rating. These inconsistent findings may in part be a function of the acutely ill patient sample employed in the current study, wherein a more restricted range of illness severity may have impacted an ability to detect differences across demographic and functioning (i.e., GAF) measures. Similarly, we failed to demonstrate a significant association between CUD comorbidity and suicide attempt history in the current sample, which is consistent with prior research that has failed to establish this association within other BD samples [6,21] but may also be a function of the clinical acuity of the study sample as a whole.
