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Published in: BMC Psychiatry 1/2024

Open Access 01-12-2024 | Insomnia | Research

Clinical distinctions in symptomatology and psychiatric comorbidities between misdiagnosed bipolar I and bipolar II disorder versus major depressive disorder

Authors: Zhiguo Wu, Jun Wang, Chen Zhang, Daihui Peng, David Mellor, Yanli Luo, Yiru Fang

Published in: BMC Psychiatry | Issue 1/2024

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Abstract

Background

To explore the demographic and clinical features of current depressive episode that discriminate patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD) from those with bipolar I (BP-I) and bipolar II (BP-II) disorder who were misdiagnosed as having MDD .

Methods

The Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) assessment was performed to establish DSM-IV diagnoses of MDD, and BP-I and BP-II, previously being misdiagnosed as MDD. Demographics, depressive symptoms and psychiatric comorbidities were compared between 1463 patients with BP-I, BP-II and MDD from 8 psychiatric settings in mainland China. A multinomial logistic regression model was performed to assess clinical correlates of diagnoses.

Results

A total of 14.5% of the enrolled patients initially diagnosed with MDD were eventually diagnosed with BP. Broad illness characteristics including younger age, higher prevalence of recurrence, concurrent dysthymia, suicidal attempts, agitation, psychotic features and psychiatric comorbidities, as well as lower prevalence of insomnia, weight loss and somatic symptoms were featured by patients with BP-I and/or BP-I, compared to those with MDD. Comparisons between BP-I and BP-II versus MDD indicated distinct symptom profiles and comorbidity patterns with more differences being observed between BP-II and MDD, than between BP-I and MDD .

Conclusion

The results provide evidence of clinically distinguishing characteristics between misdiagnosed BP-I and BP- II versus MDD. The findings have implications for guiding more accurate diagnoses of bipolar disorders.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Clinical distinctions in symptomatology and psychiatric comorbidities between misdiagnosed bipolar I and bipolar II disorder versus major depressive disorder
Authors
Zhiguo Wu
Jun Wang
Chen Zhang
Daihui Peng
David Mellor
Yanli Luo
Yiru Fang
Publication date
01-12-2024
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Psychiatry / Issue 1/2024
Electronic ISSN: 1471-244X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-05810-3

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