ABSTRACT
Background: Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) and Bipolar Spectrum Diagnostic Scale (BSDS) are used to screen patients with bipolar disorders and have been examined in some psychiatric settings. The present study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of these 2 tools on inpatients in a general hospital. Methods: In a cross-sectional study in 2011, a total of 207 inpatients admitted to different wards of Rasoul Akram hospital, Tehran, were selected by systematic random sampling. Demographic questionnaire, MDQ, and BSDS were completed. Also, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV axis I disorders (SCID-I) was performed for all participants within 72 hours. The SCID-I was used as the gold standard of psychiatric diagnoses to identify the predictive validity of the 2 screening tests. Sensitivity and specificity indices were identified using Roc curve. The 2 screening tools were recompleted by 20% of the patients (n=43) after 3-7 days to measure test-retest reliability using paired t test and correlation between measures in 2 separate occasions. Results: In this study, 101 female and 106 male (m=36.9±15.5 yrs.) patients were entered the study, of them 56 (32 males) had bipolar disorder according to SCID-I. The most common bipolar disorder was bipolar disorder type II (9.7%). Pearson's test showed a high test-retest reliability for both MDQ (r=0.72, p<0.001) and BSDS (r=0.77, p<0.001). For MDQ, the scores 5 (sensitivity=0.60; specificity=0.73) and 6 (sensitivity=0.56; specificity=0.77) were the best cutoff points. Positive and negative predictive values for the mentioned cutoff points were 0.45 and 0.83 (for the score 5) and 0.48 and 0.82 (for the score 6), respectively. The best cutoff point for BSDS was 11 with the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of 0.74, 0.69, 0.47, and 0.87. Conclusion: The Persian versions of MDQ and BSDS have acceptable validity and reliability to screen Persian patients with bipolar spectrum disorders in a general hospital.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Suicide prevention is one of the priorities in policies of Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MHME). The suicide prevention program had two main parts of identifying and treatment of the depressed and suicide high risk individuals by Primary Health Care (PHC) network. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the results of integration of the program into PHC network in two cities with moderate to high rate of suicide with diverse socio-cultural backgrounds. METHODS: This work as a field trial study was conducted in Nahavand and Savojbolagh from April 2010 to March 2011 (12 months). A screening tool was designed. Required capacities such as treatment, referral and registration system were provided six months before the main study. The intervention phase (for one year) including the treatment process and five consultation sessions was conducted to identify depressed people and individuals with high risk of suicide. The data were analyzed by Chi square test. RESULTS: After one year of intervention, the rate of committing suicide became 4.98 and 3.36 per one hundred thousand population in Nahavand and Savojbolagh, respectively (16 and 1.6 per 100,000 in the year of before intervention respectively, 2009-2010). The female: male ratio of committing suicide was 2:1 in Nahavand and 1:1 in Savojbolagh. The most common method of committing suicide was drug intoxication in both cities. The identified cases by health workers at rural setting were 33 to 44 per 1000, in which 1.3 cases per 1000 population had been approved by general physicians. CONCLUSION: This study approved the feasibility and efficacy of integration of suicide prevention program into PHC. The increased rate of suicide in Savojbolagh could be related to low rate of screening and lack of treatment facilities (hospitalization and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and part-time psychiatrist. Increasing the PHC capacities could improve the health network efficiency to identify and manage depressed and at risk of suicide individuals. Screening tool/s and method have to be improved to provide better results.
