Decreasing rate of inpatient pediatric bipolar disorder diagnosis in the US between 2004 and 2010

A Systematic Review of Misdiagnosis of Pediatric Bipolar Disorder: Assessments and Recommendations

Bipolar disorders (BP) are a class of psychiatric disorders with a complex symptom presentation. This systematic review aims to summarize literature pertaining to the misdiagnosis of pediatric BP using the DSM-IV and DSM-5 criteria, while emphasizing the negative impact that untreated BP has on life outcomes. This paper also attempts to outline and summarize available recommendations which may aid in improving diagnostic accuracy of pediatric BP. Scholars Portal Journals, PsychINFO, and MEDLINE databases were used to search articles until March 21, 2023. Inclusion criteria limited this review to articles published between 1995 and 2022 using a pediatric (age < 18) sample. Exclusion criteria omitted articles containing samples with self-reported diagnoses. A total of 15 articles are included in this review; study results were synthesized using a narrative summary. Youth with BP are most frequently misdiagnosed with attention-deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia, and major depressive disorder (MDD). Misdiagnosis can lead to inappropriate intervention plans and a delay in proper treatment, negatively impacting a child's quality of life by contributing to social, occupational, and economic adversity. Finally, this review addresses the need for future quantitative research on the implications of false negative diagnoses of pediatric BP.

Functional Alterations in Patients with Bipolar Disorder and Their Unaffected First-Degree Relatives: Insight from Genetic, Epidemiological, and Neuroimaging Data

Bipolar disorder (BD) profoundly affects cognitive and psychosocial functioning, leading to a significant illness burden on patients and their families. Genetic factors are predominant in the onset of bipolar disorder and functional impairments. This disorder exhibits a strong family aggregation, with heritability estimates reaching up to 80%. Individuals with BD often experience impaired functioning, especially in significant areas such as physical performance, sleep, cognition, interpersonal interactions, socioeconomic status, family and marital relationships, work and school performance, well-being, and life expectancy. However, patients with different subtypes exhibit significant heterogeneity in social functioning, cognition, and creativity levels. There are notable differences in psychosocial and cognitive function in their unaffected first-degree relatives (UFR) who do not suffer but may carry susceptibility genes compared to healthy control (HC) without a family history. The observations indicate common genetic structures between BD patients and their UFR, which results in varying degrees of functional abnormalities. Therefore, this article mainly provides evidence on cognition, creativity, and psychosocial functioning in patients with BD and their UFR to provide a more comprehensive understanding of this critical topic in the field of BD. By integrating various findings, including clinical data and neuroimaging studies, our article aims to provide insights and valuable information for a deeper exploration of the pathogenesis of BD and the development of more targeted therapeutic strategies in the future.

Diagnostic Stability in Psychiatric Patients From Hospital Admission to Discharge: A 10-Year Retrospective Study

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to evaluate the consistency or stability of mental disorders diagnosed in the psychiatry ward setting, investigate factors associated with consistency, and observe the disease distribution over the decade.

METHODS

A total of 20,359 psychiatric inpatients were included in this retrospective study from June 2011 to December 2020. Diagnoses from the first admission to discharge were evaluated to determine the diagnostic consistency during hospitalization. Readmissions were selected as the subgroup, whose first and last discharge diagnoses were compared to analyze the relatively long-term diagnostic stability. Demographic and clinical characteristics were collected to identify predictors of diagnostic discrepancy.

RESULTS

From 2011-2020, the hospitalization rate decreased from 42.7% to 20.7% for schizophrenia and grew from 13.3% to 23.8% for depression. Diagnoses were retained by 92.6% of patients at their first discharge diagnosis, ranging from 100% for disorders of psychological development to 16.3% for unspecified mental disorders. About 33.9% of diagnostic conversions were to bipolar disorder in patients having inconsistent diagnoses. However, among rehospitalizations, the diagnostic stability notably dropped to 71.3%. For rehospitalizations, mood disorders and schizophrenia spectrum disorders were relatively stable diagnoses categories, with 72.6% to 76.7% of patients receiving the same diagnosis, although results of specified diagnoses within these categories ranged from 5.9% to 91.0%. Except for mood disorders and schizophrenia spectrum disorders, the diagnoses of all other categories were below 70%. Long lengths of hospitalization and old age were associated with short-term diagnosis alterations.

CONCLUSION

Longitudinal follow-up and integration of multiple aspects of information are essential for accurate diagnosis.