A comparative study of prevalence of mixed features in patients with unipolar and bipolar depression

There is a lack of data on the mixed specifier from developing countries like India.

In this background, the present study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of "mixed specifier" in patients with unipolar depression and bipolar depression. The additional aim was to evaluate the sociodemographic and clinical correlates of the mixed specifier.

110 patients (51 diagnosed with current episode unipolar depression and 59 diagnosed with current episode bipolar depression) were evaluated on DSM-5 criteria for mixed specifier for depression, Clinically Useful Depression Outcome Scale, Koukopoulos Mixed Depression Rating Scale, Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS) and Young mania rating scale.

According to DSM-5, 11 (21.56%) out of the 51 patients with unipolar depression fulfilled at least 3 out of the 7 criteria for the mixed specifier for depression, and 14 (23.72%) out of 59 patients with bipolar depression fulfilled the criteria for the mixed specifier, with no significant difference in the prevalence across the 2 groups. There was no significant difference in the sociodemographic and clinical profile of those with and without mixed features in both unipolar and bipolar depression groups. However, those with mixed and without mixed features differ on certain depressive symptoms as assessed on HDRS.

About one-fifth of patients with unipolar and bipolar depression have mixed features during the acute phase of depression.