title: Validity of the Mood Disorder Questionnaire in a Brazilian psychiatric population.
abstract: Bipolar spectrum disorders are prevalent and frequently underdiagnosed and undertreated. This report describes the development and validation of the Brazilian version of the Mood Disorder Questionnaire, a screening instrument for bipolar spectrum disorders, in an adult psychiatric population.
  
  
  
  A total of 114 consecutive patients attending an outpatient psychiatric clinic completed the Brazilian version of the Mood Disorder Questionnaire. A research psychiatrist, blind to the Mood Disorder Questionnaire results, interviewed patients by means of the mood module of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV ('gold standard').
  
  
  
  The internal consistency of the Brazilian Mood Disorder Questionnaire, evaluated with Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.76 (95% CI; 0.69-0.92). Principal component analysis with varimax rotation indicated an 'irritability-racing thoughts' factor and 'energized-activity' factor, which explained 39.1% of variance. On the basis of the SCID, 69 (60.5%) individuals received a diagnosis of bipolar disorders. A Brazilian Mood Disorder Questionnaire screening score of 8 or more items yielded sensitivity of 0.91 (95% CI; 0.85-0.98), specificity of 0.70 (95% CI; 0.62-0.75), a positive predictive value of 0.82 (95% CI; 0.75-0.88) and a negative predictive value of 0.84 (95% CI; 0.77-0.90).
  
  
  
  The present data demonstrate that the Brazilian Mood Disorder Questionnaire is a valid instrument for the screening of bipolar disorders. The instrument needs to be validated in other settings (e.g., in general practice).
authors.affiliation: Medical School, Universidade de Fortaleza, Fortaleza, CE, Brazil.
authors.forename: Milena S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Castelo
authors.forename: Eduardo R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.forename: Emília S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Gerhard
authors.forename: Carlos Maurício C
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Eduardo D
authors.initials: ED
authors.lastname: Ferreira
authors.forename: André F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Carvalho
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D001938:Brazil; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014177:Translations