title: The 33-item Hypomania Checklist (HCL-33) - a study of the consistency between self - and external assessments in Polish bipolar patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The Hypomania Checklist (HCL) has become an important tool for the assessment of hypomanic symptoms in patients with mood disorders and in the general population. The HCL-33 scale, containing 33 symptom items, is a new instrument which, in addition to the self-administered questionnaire, has a version for external rating. The aim of this study is to evaluate the consistency between the self - and external assessments using the HCL-33 in Polish patients with bipolar disorder.
  
  
  METHODS
  The data from 81 euthymic bipolar patients recruited in Poznan and Krakow centers were analyzed. All the patients filled out the HCL-33 questionnaire, and, for each patient, the HCL-33 questionnaire-external assessment was completed by his/her significant other.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 33 symptom items, sufficient agreement (significance of kappa factor < 0.05) was found for 13 out of the 19 questions of the "active/elated" (factor 1) and for all 14 items of the "irritable/risk-taking" (factor 2). Insignificant consistency was found for 6 items of factor 1 and the question regarding the longest period of hypomania. The inter-rater agreement between patient and significant other was not affected by gender, living together or subtype of relationship with the patient.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results show significant consistency between self - and external assessments for 27 symptom items (82%) of the HCL-33. The future status of the items showing insufficient consistency should be discussed. Limitation of the study is a small number of subjects recruited from only two centers which may not be representative for the Polish population.
authors.affiliation: Klinika Psychiatrii Dorosłych UM w Poznaniu.
authors.forename: Dorota
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Łojko
authors.affiliation: Zakład Zaburzeń Afektywnych Katedry Psychiatrii UJ CM.
authors.forename: Dominika
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dudek
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jules
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Angst
authors.affiliation: Zakład Zaburzeń Afektywnych Katedry Psychiatrii UJ CM.
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siwek
authors.affiliation: Katedra i Zakład Informatyki i Statystyki UM w Poznaniu.
authors.forename: Michał
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Michalak
authors.affiliation: Klinika Psychiatrii Dorosłych UM w Poznaniu.
authors.forename: Janusz
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rybakowski
mesh_terms: D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011594:Psychometrics; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057566:Self Report / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*
keywords: HCL-33; bipolar disorder; external assessment; self-assessment