Abstract:Objective To explore the clinical efficacy of ziprasidone combined with olanzapine versus olanzapine monotherapy in the treatment of patients with bipolar disorder, and to analyze their effects on serum levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and nerve growth factor (NGF).Methods A total of 112 patients with bipolar disorder treated at Nanjing Brain Hospital from January 2022 to January 2025 were prospectively enrolled and randomly divided into the control group and the observation group, with 56 cases in each group. All patients received background treatment with valproate. The control group was given oral olanzapine on the basis of valproate, and the observation group was treated with ziprasidone combined with the regimen of the control group. Both groups received treatment for 7 cycles. Before and after treatment, the two groups were compared in terms of improvement in psychiatric and behavioral symptoms assessed by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Bech-Rafaelsen Mania Rating Scale (BRMS) scores, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores, inflammatory factor levels and cytokine levels. The clinical efficacy of the two groups was statistically compared.Results The overall effective rate in the observation group was higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05). After treatment, scores for hostility-suspicion, excitement, thought disturbance, and anergia were significantly lower in both groups than before treatment (P < 0.05). Moreover, the observation group showed significantly lower scores in these four domains of psychiatric and behavioral symptoms than the control group after treatment (P < 0.05). After treatment, scores on the BRMS and the MMSE were significantly lower than those before treatment in both groups. In addition, the observation group had significantly lower BRMS and MMSE scores than the control group after treatment (P < 0.05). Following treatment, serum levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and TBARS were significantly lower than baseline levels in both groups. Furthermore, serum TNF-α, CRP, IL-1, and IL-6 levels were significantly lower in the observation group than in the control group after treatment (P < 0.05). After treatment, serum TBARS levels decreased, whereas NGF and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels increased in both groups compared with baseline. Compared with the control group, the observation group exhibited significantly lower serum TBARS levels and significantly higher NGF and BDNF levels after treatment (P < 0.05).Conclusion On the basis of valproate background therapy, ziprasidone combined with olanzapine can significantly improve clinical efficacy and more effectively relieve psychiatric behavioral symptoms as well as manic and depressive symptoms in bipolar disorder patients compared with olanzapine monotherapy. The mechanism may be related to the reduction of systemic inflammation and oxidative stress injury, and the upregulation of neurotrophic factor levels.