As the symptoms of the depressive phase of bipolar disorder are like major depression, it is easy to misdiagnose bipolar disorder as depression. However, the treatment approaches for both disorders are different and hence accurate diagnosis is critical. A recent report published in The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry , which involved 64 adults with major depression and 37 adults with bipolar disorder, showed that a simple 15-minute ECG can distinguish between depression and bipolar disorder.
It was found that, at the baseline, the patients with major depression had significantly higher respiratory sinus arrhythmia than those with bipolar disorder. Do you think this method will help correctly diagnose depression versus bipolar disorder?
