title: Telephone versus in-person clinical and health status assessment interviews in patients with bipolar disorder.
abstract: We evaluated the correspondence between in-person- and telephone interview-derived data on affective symptoms, health-related quality of life, disability days, and medication compliance in patients with bipolar disorder. Twenty-eight outpatients with DSM-III-R-documented bipolar disorder were randomly assigned to an initial in-person or telephone interview. An average of 4.0 days later, they were reassessed by the other interview method. Results indicate good to excellent agreement between telephone and in-person interviews on measures of mania (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) = 0.92) and depression symptoms (ICC = 0.90), suicide risk (kappa = 0.80), and alcohol use (kappa = 0.61), scores on the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (ICCs = 0.66-0.92), and medication compliance (ICCs = 0.50-0.66). Measures of bed disability days (ICC = 0.34) and restricted activity days (ICC = 0.66) showed less agreement. Telephone interviews are feasible and reliable for collecting data on psychiatric and other health-related outcomes in bipolar disorder patients.
authors.affiliation: MEDTAP International, Bethesda, Md. 20814, USA.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Revicki
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tohen
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gyulai
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pike
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Davis-Vogel
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zarate
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011788:Quality of Life; D013689:Telephone