Background: The Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) has validity in the assessment of mania in adults. The purpose of this study was to examine how the YMRS might optimally be used in the assessment of youths.
Methods: Children and adolescents between the ages of 5 and 17 years of age participated in this study. All youths were evaluated with the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children (K-SADS). Based on the K-SADS results, subjects were then assigned to one of five groups: a bipolar I group, another bipolar spectrum group, a depressive disorders group, a disruptive behaviors disorders group, and a no diagnosis group. Guardians completed a version of the YMRS modified for parent reporting. Clinicians completed the YMRS on all participating youths.
Results: Both parent and clinician ratings on the YMRS assigned patients (n=117) to the appropriate diagnostic group with 71-98% accuracy. Combining information from multiple informants did not significantly improve diagnostic group assignment.
Limitations: The same raters completed the clinician YMRS and the K-SADS interview involving the parent. Findings need replication in an independent sample with lower base rates of bipolar disorder, less rigorously trained and supervised raters, and using a prospective design to provide maximum generalizability of results. Current results should be interpreted as a 'best case' scenario.
Conclusions: These data suggest that the YMRS may be a useful adjunct in assessing the severity of mania in youths. Tentative cutting scores are proposed to maximize efficiency, sensitivity, and specificity.