ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The reliability and validity of the Korean version of Young Mania Rating Scale (K-YMRS) were examined in the Korean patients with major psychosis. METHODS: One hundred and twenty inpatients diagnosed as major psychosis by DSM-IV criteria were assessed with both K-YMRS and expanded Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS-E) during the first 3 days in hospital and after 4-week treatment. RESULTS: The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of K-YMRS was 0.73. The inter-rater reliabilities of total score (r=0.93, p=0.000) and individual item scores were high (r=0.65-0.96, p=0.000). The correlations of each items of K-YMRS with total score were statistically significant (r=0.35-0.78, p=0.000) except for the "insight" item. The principal component analysis for K-YMRS produced three factors;a) mood and vegetative symptoms, b) behavioral symptoms, and c) thought content and insight. The total scores of K-YMRS showed a significant correlation with the manic-excitement factor scores of BPRS-E at baseline and after 4-week treatment (r=0.82, r=0.72, respectively, p=0.000). The discriminant function analysis showed that manic (n=43) and non-manic patients (n=73) were discriminated 73.7% correctly by K-YMRS total score (p=0.01). The change of the total score of K-YMRS after 4-week treatment in manic patients was significantly greater than that in non-manic patients (p=0.000). CONCLUSIONS: K-YMRS was demonstrated to have good reliability and validity for measuring the severity of manic symptoms. It is expected that K-YMRS will be a useful tool for assessing mania symptoms in Korea.