Postpartum Bipolar II Disorder May be Mistakenly Diagnosed as Postpartum Depression.

Sharma et al published an article online Oct. 17 in the Journal of Affective Disorder(doi:10.1016/j.jad.2009.09.014) discussing the fact that bipolar II disorder may be underdiagnosed in postpartum women or misdiagnosed as unipolar depression.  After conducting a literature search “for relevant articles published between 1998 and 2009,” Canadian researchers found that “estimates of the prevalence of hypomania in non-clinical populations ranged from 9.6 percent to 20.4 percent on day three postpartum.” Moreover, nearly “20 percent of patients with hypomanic symptoms at day three postpartum developed postpartum depression in one study, with a significant proportion diagnosed with bipolar II disorder or bipolar disorder not otherwise specified.”