The Validity of the Turkish Translation of Mania Rating Scale, and the Depression Rating Scale for Children and Adolescents

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study is to analyze the validity and reliability of the Turkish translation of the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children - Mania Rating Scale (K-SADSC-MRS), and the Depression Rating Scale (K-SADSC -DRS). METHODS: 151 children and adolescents (6 - 18 years old) and 30 healthy controls (6 - 18 years old) who applied to the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry clinic between September 2020 and May 2022 were included in the study. All participants were given K-SADSC-MRS, K-SADSC-DRS, Children's Depression Rating Scale - Revised Form (CDRS), Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Children's General Assessment Scale (CCI) and Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI) ) scales were applied. RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha coefficient of K-SADSC-MRS was found to be 0.899 and similarly, Cronbach's alpha coefficient of K-SADSC-DRS was found to be 0.899. A high correlation was found between YMRS and K-SADSC-MRS (r=0.932, p&lt; 0.001), and between CDRS and K-SADSC-DRS (r=0.911, p&lt; 0.001). There was a negative correlation between the scales showing opposite polarity. In ROC analyses, the area under the curve was found to be 0.927 for K-SADSC-MRS and 0.920 for K-SADSC-DRS. Intra-class correlation coefficients between the interviewers were için 0,996 (%95 confidence interval= 0,992 – 0,998) for K-SADSC-MRS and 0,980 (%95 confidence interval= 0,956 – 0,991) for K-SADSC-DRS. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The Turkish forms of K-SADSC-MRS and K-SADSC-DRS are valid and reliable scales and are suitable for use in children and adolescents in our country.</p

Index depressive episode and antidepressant exposure were associated with illness characteristics of pediatric bipolar disorder

Objective Pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD) is a serious, recurrent disorder leading to severe functional impairment. As a first mood episode, index episode could affect the long-term course of the illness. This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics of youth with PBD from our multicenter, nationwide, naturalistic follow-up samples and to identify (i) the effects of index mood episode and (ii) the effect of previous antidepressant treatments on the age at mania onset of PBD. Method The study sample consisted of 271 youth with BD-I followed by the child and adolescent psychiatry clinics of seven different university hospitals and three research state hospitals, representing six geographic regions across Turkey. All diagnoses were made according to structured interviews, and all data were retrospectively obtained from clinical records by the clinicians. Results When patients with index depressive/mixed episodes (IDE, n=129) and patients with index (hypo)manic episodes (IME, n=142) were compared, the total number of mood episodes and rapid cycling feature were significantly higher in the IDE group than in the IME group. The Cox regression analysis adjusted for sociodemographic and illness characteristics revealed female adolescents in the IDE group treated with antidepressants were more likely to have an earlier onset of mania (hazard ratio=2.03, 95% confidence interval=1.31-3.12, p=0.001). Conclusion This is the first large-scale nationwide follow-up study in Turkey that indicated prior antidepressant treatments were associated with an earlier onset of mania in youth, particularly in adolescent females. Larger prospective studies are needed to identify neurodevelopmental processes underlying PBD and initiate prevention approaches