Examination of concordance between maternal and youth reports in the diagnosis of pediatric bipolar disorder.
OBJECTIVE
While concordance between mother and child report continues to be the gold standard in the assessment of pediatric bipolar disorder, uncertainty develops when a mother's report is not endorsed by the youth. To this end we compared discordant (mother positive and youth negative) and concordant (mother and youth positive) cases.


METHODS
Subjects were 98 adolescents (12-19 years of age) derived from family studies of bipolar disorder in youth who had both self-reported and mother-reported assessments. Comparisons were made between discordant (n = 35) and concordant (n = 59) cases on a wide range of clinical correlates.


RESULTS
Mothers in both groups reported similar rates of symptoms of mania and depression. Within the concordant group, mothers and youth reported similar rates of symptoms of mania. There were no differences between the concordant and discordant groups in onset, duration, or impairment of mania, rates of psychiatric hospitalization, cognitive variables, or rates of disorders in family members.


CONCLUSIONS
The similarities between discordant and concordant reports in symptomatology of mania and depression, rates of comorbidities, treatment needs, and other clinical correlates suggest that a mother-based diagnosis of mania should not be discounted in discrepant cases in which the youth fails to endorse the diagnosis.
Biederman
Joseph
J
Clinical and Research Program in Pediatric Psychopharmacology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, Warren 705, Boston, MA 02114, USA. jbiederman@partners.org
Petty
Carter R
CR
Wilens
Timothy E
TE
Spencer
Thomas
T
Henin
Aude
A
Faraone
Stephen V
SV
Mick
Eric
E
Monuteaux
Michael C
MC
Kenealy
Deborah
D
Mirto
Tara
T
Wozniak
Janet
J
D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D010372:Pediatrics; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult