Validity of the parent young mania rating scale in a community mental health setting.

The objective of this study was to examine the potential of using the Parent Young Mania Rating Scale (P-YMRS) to distinguish pediatric bipolar disorder from other psychiatric conditions. The design of the study was a retrospective chart review. The setting of the study was community mental health. Participants included 130 children and adolescents. Measurements were based on P-YMRS scores. An ANOVA revealed a significant difference between mean scores of patients with and without bipolar disorder. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis revealed that the P-YMRS is very good at predicting group membership and suggested a cutoff of 18 or higher for the presence of bipolar disorder. The authors conclude that the P-YMRS should be useful to differentiate pediatric bipolar disorder from other mental health conditions.