Psychometric properties of the Rapid Mood Screener (RMS)-Chinese version in adolescents with unipolar and bipolar depressive episodes.

Adolescent unipolar and bipolar depression share many overlapping symptoms, frequently resulting in diagnostic delays and inappropriate treatment. The Rapid Mood Screener (RMS) is a brief and practical tool designed for the preliminary screening of bipolar disorder. This study aimed to evaluate the reliability, validity, and diagnostic utility of the Chinese version (RMS-C) in adolescents experiencing depressive episodes. A total of 167 patients aged 13-18 years were recruited, including 68 with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 99 with bipolar disorder (BD). Participants completed the RMS-C, the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ), and the Hypomania Checklist-32 (HCL-32) at baseline and at 2-, 4-, and 8-week follow-ups. The RMS-C demonstrated satisfactory reliability, with test-retest intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) ranging from 0.71 to 0.79, and a two-factor model supported good structural validity (CFI = 0.92). Using a cutoff score of 4, the RMS-C achieved AUCs of 0.81 for BD, 0.78 for BD-I, 0.82 for BD-II, and 0.83 for BD-II with anxious distress, outperforming both the MDQ and HCL-32. These findings suggest that the RMS-C is a reliable and efficient screening tool for the rapid identification of bipolar depression in adolescents and holds strong promise for clinical application in outpatient settings.