Gen Hosp Psychiatry

Objective:Bipolar disorder affects 2-8% of pregnant and postpartum women; untreated illness is associated with poor outcomes. This study aimed to describe bipolar disorder screening rates in obstetric settings and associated characteristics.Method:Women were recruited during pregnancy through three months postpartum from 14 obstetric clinics in Massachusetts. The Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) was used to screen for bipolar disorder; a subset previously diagnosed with bipolar was also examined. Differences in characteristics by screening outcome were tested using chi-square and t-tests.Results:Of 574 participating women, 18.8% screened positive for bipolar disorder. Compared to those with negative, those with positive bipolar screens had 18.5-times the prevalence of positive substance use screens (11.1% vs. 0.6%, p<0.001) and 3.4-times reported feeling they were not receiving adequate psychiatric help (24.0 vs. 7.0%, p