Psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Functioning Assessment Short Test (FAST) in bipolar disorder

•Bipolar disorder (BD) is often associated with significant functional impairment, but most current standardized instruments on functioning either failed to cover all aspects of functioning in BD patients, or are excessively long and inconvenient for clinicians.•In China there are 1.54 million people living with BD, but to date there is no appropriate and valid measure of functional impairment available for this population.•The Functioning Assessment Short Test (FAST)-Chinese version has satisfactory psychometric properties in terms of validity and reliability in Chinese adults with BD. Bipolar disorder (BD) is often associated with significant functional impairment. However, there is currently no valid and reliable instrument for this variable that is both brief and easy to administer in China. We thus aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Functioning Assessment Short Test (FAST) in Chinese adults with BD. In this sample of adult subjects, 176 with BD and 53 healthy controls were included. The Chinese version of the FAST, the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS-17) and the Global Assessment Functioning (GAF) were administered, and the psychometric analysis of the FAST was conducted. The internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.89 and 0.88 for the FAST at the baseline and week 1, respectively. Four domains (occupational functioning, cognitive functioning, interpersonal relationship and financial issues) at baseline had high item-total correlations. The FAST assessments at baseline and week 1 were highly correlated, indicating high test-retest reliability. The FAST total score was strongly associated with GAF total scores at week 0 (r = −0.952, p