The reliability and validity of the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire: a comparison between patient groups

Comparison of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of bipolar patients with and without seasonal patterns

“…These tools are reported to be useful in identifying seasonal mood fluctuations in bipolar patients, but remain limited in establishing a correlation between diagnostic sources and seasonal pattern criteria. 24 …”

The Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA): rationale, objectives and methods

“…The two-year follow-up assessment consists of a face-to-face clinic visit, in which baseline assessments -except those concerning stable concepts -are repeated. A few additional assessments were included: the CIDI bipolar disorder section, questions about experienced side effects and effectiveness of used psychotropic medication, a computerized working memory task (N-back; Carlson et al, 1998), a computerized exogeneous cueing task (Koster et al, 2005) to assess attentional bias for depression and anxiety, and an index of seasonality of symptoms (Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire; Mersch et al 2004). The four-year and eight-year follow-up assessments will start in September 2008 and 2012, respectively.…”

Lumpers, Splitters, and Statistics: Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, and Their Relationship to Seasonality

“…Byrne et al, 4 for example, focus on the relationship between the trait of seasonal variation in mood-related symptoms and the major mood and psychotic disorders. Using a twin sample from Australia and a large family-based US Amish sample, they performed a meta-analytic GWAS of the composite score from the Seasonal Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ), 6 a widely used instrument in the study of seasonal affective disorder. Not surprisingly, the authors did not find genome-wide significant findings (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have required initial case sample sizes > 5,000 to find genome-wide significance).…”

“…Despite its wide use, there is relatively little clinical validation of the use of the SPAQ to help diagnose seasonal affective disorder. 6 By themselves, genetic studies are rarely in a position to impart clinical relevance on a particular phenotype, a limitation that reminds us of the important distinction between biological validity and clinical utility. 9 Nevertheless, the study by Byrne et al 4 is one of many emerging examples of how to use existing molecular genetic studies to revisit key nosologic and clinical questions posed well before the molecular era.…”