The Hypomania Checklist-32 and the Mood Disorder Questionnaire as screening tools--going beyond samples of purely mood-disordered patients.
BACKGROUND
Bipolar disorders are often not recognized. Several screening tools have been developed, e.g., the Hypomania Checklist-32 (HCL-32) and the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) to improve this situation. Whereas the German HCL-32 has been used in non-clinical samples, neither the HCL-32 nor the MDQ has been validated in German samples of mood-disordered patients. Additionally, hardly any prior study has included patients with non-mood disorders or has considered potential effects of comorbid conditions. Therefore the goal of this study was to test the validity of both scales in a diverse patient sample while also taking into account psychiatric comorbidity.


METHODS
A multi-site study was conducted involving seven centers. Patients (n=488) completed the HCL-32 and MDQ and were independently interviewed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM (SCID).


RESULTS
Sensitivity for bipolar I was similar for HCL-32 and MDQ (.88 and .84) but slightly different for bipolar II (.90 and .83), specificity, however, was higher for MDQ. In general, a comorbid condition led to increased scores in both tools regardless of whether the primary diagnosis was bipolar or not. LIMITATIONS AND DISCUSSION: Although we included not just mood-disordered patients, detailed subgroup analyses for all diagnostic categories were not possible due to sample sizes. In summary, HCL-32 and MDQ seem fairly comparable in detecting bipolar disorders although their effectiveness depends on the goal of the screening, psychiatric comorbidity, and potentially the setting.
Meyer
Thomas D
TD
Institute of Neuroscience, Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, Newcastle University, Ridley Building, Newcastle upon Tyne NE17RU, UK. thomas.meyer@newcastle.ac.uk
Bernhard
Britta
B
Born
Christoph
C
Fuhr
Kristina
K
Gerber
Sonja
S
Schaerer
Lars
L
Langosch
Jens M
JM
Pfennig
Andrea
A
Sasse
Johanna
J
Scheiter
Susan
S
Schöttle
Daniel
D
van Calker
Dietrich
D
Wolkenstein
Larissa
L
Bauer
Michael
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D057189:Checklist / Q000592:standards; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards; D055815:Young Adult