Premium
Schizoaffective disorder – the reliability of its clinical diagnostic use
Author(s) -
VollmerLarsen A.,
Jacobsen T. B.,
Hemmingsen R.,
Parnas J.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.2005.00744.x
Subject(s) - schizoaffective disorder , medical diagnosis , checklist , psychiatry , icd 10 , clinical diagnosis , inter rater reliability , medicine , psychology , pediatrics , psychosis , rating scale , pathology , developmental psychology , cognitive psychology
Objective: Patients with psychoses often suffer from affective symptoms. The originally broad concept of schizoaffective disorder (SAD) has been significantly narrowed, transformed into a convoluted set of criteria both in the ICD‐10 and DSM‐IV. We examined the reliability of the clinical use of this diagnosis in university settings. Method: All patients discharged from two university hospitals in Copenhagen in year 2002 with a diagnosis of ICD‐10 SAD ( n = 59) were re‐evaluated using the Operational Criteria (OPCRIT) checklist expanded by additional items and applied to hospital chart material. Diagnoses were allocated by OPCRIT algorithm and by consensus of two psychiatrists. Results: No patients fulfilled the SAD lifetime diagnosis according to DSM‐IV criteria and the raters diagnosed only six patients as possible ICD‐10 SAD. Conclusion: A moratorium on the clinical use of the SAD diagnosis is suggested.