A study to identify unrecognized bipolar disorder in patients of major depressive disorder taking antidepressants

Background: Unrecognized bipolar spectrum disorder under cover diagnosis of major depression disorder leads to wrong medications (antidepressants in absence of mood stabilizer), which may switch to mania. Aim and Objectives: A study was to identify unrecognized bipolar disorder in patients of major depressive disorder taking antidepressants. Materials and Methods: This is an observational and cross-sectional study of 150 patients previously diagnosed as major depressive disorder taking antidepressants from tertiary care hospital. Patients were assessed by proforma containing demographic details, Questionnaire of mood disorder questionnaire (MDQ), and Hamilton depression rating scale (HAMD) followed by clinical interview according to DSM-5 to confirm diagnosis. Statistical analysis was done. Results: We found 6.67% depression patients screened positive on MDQ for bipolar disorder and diagnosis is confirmed by interview according to DSM-5. MDQ positive patients have early age of onset of depression(P=0.0109), long duration of depression(P=0.0478), presence of previous suicide attempt(P=0.0130), and family history of bipolar disorder(P=0.0361). No statistically significant difference was observed between mean HAMD score and severity of depression between MDQ positive and negative group. Conclusion: Among patients prescribed antidepressants for depression, there is a substantial proportion with unrecognized bipolar disorder and most of them had never received diagnosis of bipolar disorder. When seeing patients with depression disorder, clinicians should review the life history for screening of unrecognized bipolar disorder by looking for early age onset of depressive episode and long lifetime duration of depression, previous suicide attempt, and family history of bipolar disorder.