Evaluation of a novel instrument for detecting bipolar disorders in China: The Rapid Mood Screener (RMS)

Abstract

ObjectiveBipolar disorder is easily misdiagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD). The Rapid Mood Screener (RMS) was developed to address this unmet clinical need. This study aims to translate and evaluated the reliability and validity of the RMS in Chinese adults with bipolar I/II disorder (BD-I/II). MethodsBrislin's translation and Delphi method were conducted to formulate the RMS-Chinses version (RMS-C). Patients with MDD (N = 99), BD-I (N = 77) and BD-II (N = 78) were included to assess the validity and reliability of RMS-C. The area under the curve (AUC) was computed to ascertain the ability of the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) and RMS-C to distinguish BD-I and BD-II from MDD. The optimal cut-off scores for classification were also calculated by the maximum sensitivity and specificity. ResultsThe intraclass correlation coefficient of the RMS-C was 0.82 (95%CI, 0.71–0.89). The content validity index by six items were 0.71, 0.86, 1.00, 0.86, 1.00, and 1.00 in turn, and by scales was 0.90. The AUCs of the RMS-C in both BD-I/II, BD-I alone and BD-II alone were 0.83 (95 % CI, 0.78–0.89), 0.82 (95 % CI, 0.75–0.89) and 0.85 (95 % CI, 0.79–0.91), respectively, and were comparably to the MDQ. The optimal RMS-C values of the presence of BD-I and BD-II were >4 and 3, respectively. ConclusionThe RMS-C is a valid, simple self-administer screening tool to help identify BD-I or BD-II in persons experiencing a depressive episode. Validating the impact of screening with the RMS-C on health outcomes and health economics is warranted.