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Researchers say they have developed a way to use biomarkers found in a blood test to diagnose bipolar disorder more accurately.

New Test for Bipolar Disorder

Bipolar disorder is often misdiagnosed with major depressive disorder because both have numerous overlapping symptoms but need different pharmacological treatments.

While current blood tests can correctly diagnose up to 30 percent of bipolar cases, a new test that makes use of biomarkers could allow physicians to differentiate between major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder, researchers said.

Researchers said from 2018 to 2020 in Britain, some 3,000 participants completed an online mental health assessment of more than 600 questions. The assessment covered a range of topics that may be relevant to mental health disorders, including past or current depressive episodes, generalized anxiety, symptoms of mania, family history, or substance abuse. Then about 1,000 were selected to send in a dried blood sample from a finger prick, which the researchers analyzed for more than 600 different metabolites using mass spectrometry.

The research was published in “JAMA Psychiatry.”

What is Bipolar Disorder?

Bipolar disorder affects about 80 million people globally, but for nearly 40 percent of patients, it is misdiagnosed as major depressive disorder.

Bipolar disorder, formally called manic depression, is a mental health condition that causes extreme mood swings that include emotional highs (mania or hypomania) and lows (depression).

When you become depressed you may feel sad or hopeless and lose interest or pleasure in activities. When your mood shifts to mania or hypomania (less extreme than mania) you may feel euphoric, full of energy or unusually irritable. These mood swings can affect sleep, energy, activity, judgment, behavior, and the ability to think clearly.

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