Delusional psychoses: genetic findings as a critical variable for the validation of diagnostic criteria

77 patients with delusional psychoses, regardless of their nosological attribution (except severe organicity), and their first-degree relatives were diagnosed with the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) and the Vienna Research Criteria (VRC). The diagnostic procedure was performed blindly in the relatives. Both criteria were sufficiently capable of identifying a schizophrenic and affective subgroup of patients characterized by the appearance of homotypical secondary cases. Apart from a small RDC schizoaffective group differing in genetic pattern, there exists another large group of nonschizophrenic, nonaffective delusional disorders lacking a genetic link to the above-mentioned diagnoses. In respect to the development of the diagnostic criteria, the results of this study call for the formulation of a narrow definition of schizophrenia (as in the VRC) which is based on thought disorder and affective blunting with the exception of so-called productive symptomatology (delusions, hallucinations); separate criteria for schizoaffective disorders (as in RDC), and a broad and nonrestrictive definition for nonschizophrenic delusional disorders.     

Extreme MMPI scores and the Research Diagnostic Criteria. Screening college men for psychopathology.

This study compares psychiatric evaluations made with the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality inventory (MMPI) to evaluations with a standard clinical interview and the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC). The purpose was to generate a nonhospitalized, previously undiagnosed sample of persons who had psychiatric difficulties or symptoms. Of 385 college male volunteers, 56 with scores at least 3 SD above the mean on at least one MMPI scale were chosen as an index group, and 27, with all MMPI scores within normal limits, as a control group. In the index group, 82% met the RDC for at least one diagnosis, whereas only 22% of the control sample met the RDC for any diagnosis. One index subject met the RDC for schizophrenia; 15 met the RDC for a major affective disorder. Some correspondence between specific MMPI profile code types and RDC diagnoses was evident. Thus, researchers can identify a range of psychopathology meeting the RDC by using MMPI screening in a nonhospital setting. Such a research sample, free from the possible artifacts of hospitalization, drug treatment, and diagnostic labeling, can be useful particularly in testing hypotheses concerning the biological correlates of psychopathology.     

TRH test and DST in schizoaffective mania, mania, and schizophrenia

The thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) test and the Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) were given to 10 patients who met Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) for schizoaffective disorder, manic type, 9 who met the criteria for mania, and 27 who met the criteria for schizophrenia. A blunted thyrotropin (TSH) response to TRH was observed in 3 of the 10 schizoaffective manics, 4 of the 9 manics, and 3 of the 27 schizophrenics. Nonsuppression on the DST was observed in 5 of the 10 schizoaffective manics, 2 of the 9 manics, and 2 of 22 schizophrenics. The schizoaffective manic and the manic patients had similar rates of TSH blunting and DST nonsuppression, and these were significantly higher than the rates in the schizophrenic patients. This difference was not attributable to baseline TSH and cortisol levels or to neuroleptic treatment. It is suggested that patients with RDC schizoaffective mania and mania have more disturbance in the hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal and thyroid axes than patients with schizophrenia.     

Patterns of illness in parent-child pairs both hospitalized for either schizophrenia or a major mood disorder.

Results are reported of a blind rediagnosis of a consecutive series of parent-child pairs hospitalized with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or mood disorder. Patterns of illness in pairs meeting DSM-III-R criteria for either disorder were examined by contrasting the two generations on their respective distributions of diagnoses, and means of age at onset and severity of illness. While no case of mood disorder was found in the children of schizophrenic parents, 50% of the children of parents with psychotic mood disorders presented with schizophrenia. The offspring also had an earlier age at onset of illness than did their parents.     

Long-term course of schizophrenic illness: Bleuler's study reconsidered

OBJECTIVE: The influential 1972 study by Manfred Bleuler on the long-term course of schizophrenic illness has been reconsidered. The authors tested the diagnosis of schizophrenia in all patients and investigated how the distribution of the types of illness course and outcome would change after exclusion of patients whose diagnosis of schizophrenia could not be confirmed by modern diagnostic standards. METHOD: Clinical charts and Bleuler's research notes on the original sample were assessed, and all patients were rediagnosed with the help of DSM-IV, DSM-III-R, ICD-10, the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC), Schneider's criteria, and an operationalized version of the criteria of Eugen Bleuler. RESULTS: The diagnosis of schizophrenia was not confirmed in about 30% of the sample; the majority of these patients were rediagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. High diagnostic agreement was found between DSM-IV, DSM-III-R, ICD-10, and RDC; there was much less agreement with Bleuler's and Schneider's criteria. After exclusion of patients whose schizophrenia diagnosis was not confirmed, the proportion of patients with undulating course and recovery slightly decreased, and the proportion of patients with severe end state slightly increased. Nevertheless, the distribution of the types of long-term course did not significantly change, and even among patients with strictly defined schizophrenia, half had an undulating course with remissions and 12%-15% recovered. CONCLUSIONS: Schizophrenic illness remains heterogeneous with regard to illness course and outcome even when narrowly diagnosed with the help of modern operationalized diagnostic criteria. Contemporary differentiation between schizophrenic and schizoaffective disorders is prognostically valid.     

Schizoaffective mania reconsidered

Schizoaffective mania refers to a heterogeneous group of disorders characterized by mixtures of schizophrenic and manic (or bipolar) symptoms. Of the proposed diagnostic criteria, the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) most clearly distinguish relevant subgroups. Family, clinical, and treatment studies suggest that the RDC's mainly affective subtype of schizoaffective mania is a variant of psychotic bipolar disorder. Limited available data suggest that the mainly schizophrenic subtype has a poorer prognosis and includes cases more closely related to schizophrenia. Schizoaffective mania also overlaps with proposed categories such as reactive and cycloid psychosis. It is premature to assume that all schizoaffective manic disorder represents a bipolar variant. Further studies that differentiate patients according to subtype, drug response, and course are needed.     

Briquet's syndrome in a man.

A case history is presented of a man who met the diagnostic criteria of Briquet's syndrome after a 7-year history of excessive use of psychiatric and medical health care services. Despite his having been seen by several psychiatrists, the diagnosis was made only following the use of the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (SADS), a structured psychiatric interview, the results of which were applied to operationalized diagnostic criteria (Research Diagnostic Criteria [RDC]). This case demonstrates: 1) the fact that Briquet's Syndrome, commonly considered a female disorder, can occur in men; 2) the utility of structured interviews and defined diagnostic criteria in arriving at unexpected diagnoses; and 3) the importance of recognizing Briquet's Syndrome in order to avoid needless medical intervention for somatic complaints of psychological origins.     

Evaluation of diagnostic procedures in Swedish patients with schizophrenia and related psychoses

We aimed to estimate the value of structured interviews, medical records and Swedish register diagnoses for assessing lifetime diagnosis of patients with schizophrenia. Psychiatric records and diagnostic interviews of 143 Swedish patients diagnosed by their treating physician with schizophrenia and related disorders were scrutinized. Based on record analysis only, or a combined record and interview analysis, DSM-IV diagnoses were obtained by the OPCRIT algorithm. Independent of the OPCRIT algorithm, a standard research DSM-IV diagnosis, based on both record and interview analysis, was given by the research psychiatrist. Concordance rates for the different psychosis diagnoses were calculated. DSM-IV diagnoses based on records only, showed a good to excellent agreement with diagnoses based on records and interviews. Swedish register diagnoses displayed generally poor agreement with the research diagnoses. Nevertheless, 94% of subjects sometimes registered with a diagnosis of schizophrenic psychoses (i.e. schizophrenia, schizoaffective psychosis or schizophreniform disorder) displayed a standard research DSM-IV diagnosis of these disorders. For patients in long-term treatment for schizophrenia in Sweden, psychiatric record reviews should be optimal, cost effective and sufficient for assessment of lifetime research diagnoses of schizophrenia. For these patients a research interview adds little new information. The results further indicate that a Swedish register diagnosis of schizophrenic psychoses has a high positive predictive power to a standard research DSM-IV diagnosis of the disorders. It is concluded that for future Swedish large-scale genetic studies focusing on a broad definition of schizophrenia, it would be sufficient to rely on the Swedish register diagnoses of schizophrenic psychosis.     

Electroencephalographic findings in relation to diagnostic constructs in psychiatry

A group of 759 patients with final DSM-I and -II diagnoses of schizophrenia was identified among a cohort of 1494 adults who were hospitalized between 1965 and 1972. Admission EEG recordings were done in each patient during waking, activation procedures, drowsiness, and sleep. All cases were reclassified according to the Feighner et al. criteria, and relationships between the EEG, reassigned diagnosis, and outcome were examined. One-third of the schizophrenics were rediagnosed as having affective, organic, or other disorders. EEG abnormalities predicted diagnostic change and relatively favorable prognosis. Mean alpha frequencies were slower in schizophrenics than in patients with other DSM I-II disorders, and less in patients with Feighner et al. diagnoses of schizophrenia than in some rediagnosed categories. In 1980-82, matched samples from the original cohort with affective, schizophrenic, and mixed Feighner et al. diagnoses were followed and evaluated blindly with the SADS-L. RDC follow-up diagnoses were significantly correlated with the index EEG findings in terms of higher alpha average frequencies proportional to the amount of affective psychopathology. A subgroup of high functioning individuals within the RDC schizophrenic category was identified with affective symptomatology early in the course of illness, normal EEGs, and high alpha average frequencies. Patients with a consistent diagnosis of schizophrenia according to the three nosologic systems were shown to function better in some areas if the index EEG was abnormal. Discriminant function analysis established that DSM-I and -II categories possessed the greatest long-term predictive accuracy which was enhanced by the EEG diagnosis and alpha average to a level of more than 50%. The Feighner et al. and RDC diagnostic systems were not as relevant for prediction of long-term follow-up status.     

Use of a structured diagnostic interview to identify bipolar disorder in adolescent inpatients: frequency and manifestations of the disorder

The authors interviewed 17 adolescent inpatients and their mothers with the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Aged Children and Adolescents, Epidemiological Version (K-SADS-E), a semistructured interview that generates RDC and DSM-III diagnoses for major affective disorders and nonaffective psychoses and DSM-III diagnoses for dysthymic, cyclothymic, and other selected disorders. Five of the patients (29%) satisfied DSM-III criteria for bipolar disorder or atypical bipolar (bipolar II) disorder, although these diagnoses had not been identified in the hospital charts. These data support previous findings that bipolar disorder occurs moderately frequently in adolescent inpatients, although it is often unrecognized. Moreover, the disorder can be readily identified with structured diagnostic methods.     

Diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders in children with a schizophrenic parent

Many children of a schizophrenic parent may inherit a portion of the genetic risk factors for schizophrenia. The frequency of DSM-IV psychopathology in children of a schizophrenic parent and the frequency and type of mental health treatment accessed by these youths is not well understood. Twenty-eight adults with schizophrenia were identified and 43 of their 6--15 year old children recruited. Clinical diagnoses, based on a structured DSM-IV interview; severity of impairment, based on the Child Global Assessment Scale; and treatment histories were obtained. Seventy-four per cent of children-with-a-schizophrenic-parent met diagnostic criteria for a current Axis I psychiatric disorder. The most common diagnostic categories included attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (40%), any anxiety disorder (23%), and any depressive disorder (12%). Psychosis was present in 9% of this childhood sample. Of those children with a psychiatric diagnosis, 47% demonstrated current moderate or severe impairment. Approximately half of the children had received mental health evaluations and 26% had experienced at least one psychiatric medication trial. Children-with-a-schizophrenic-parent have frequent, often impairing, psychiatric problems. Despite this high prevalence, mental health evaluation and treatment is of similar frequency and type to other at-risk populations. The effectiveness and appropriateness of standard treatments remain unstudied in children-with-a-schizophrenic-parent.     

Characterizing depression in borderline patients

The comorbidity of depression and borderline disorder was studied in 39 symptomatic borderline inpatients defined by the Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines using three independent methods for assessing depression and three definitions of depression. Evaluations were conducted by the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia interviews for Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) depressive disorders, by clinical ratings for atypical depressive disorder, and by self-rated questionnaires for hysteroid dysphoria. Diagnoses of an RDC depression were made in 25 (64.1%), atypical depressive disorder in 16 (41%), and hysteroid dysphoria in 25 (64.1%) of the borderline patients. Two depressive diagnoses were present in 64.1% of patients, while 17.9% of patients met criteria for all three depressive disorders. No one method accurately characterized depression in borderline patients.     

Sensitivity of ICD-10 diagnosis of psychotic disorders in the Israeli National Hospitalization Registry compared with RDC diagnoses based on SADS-L

OBJECTIVE: The Israeli National Psychiatric Hospitalization Registry is a nationwide list of all psychiatric hospitalizations in the country and has been widely used as a source of data for psychiatric research. This study assessed the sensitivity of the diagnosis of psychotic disorders ( International Statistical Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision [ ICD-10 ] F20.0-F29.9) and schizophrenia ( ICD-10 F20.0-F20.9) in the Registry. METHOD: Registry discharge diagnoses of psychotic disorders ( ICD-10 F20.0-F29.9) and schizophrenia ( ICD-10 F20.0-F20.9) were compared with research diagnoses derived from best-estimate procedures based on Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) using structured clinical research interviews, hospital records, and family information. RESULTS: Out of 169 patients meeting RDC for psychotic disorder, 150 also had a diagnosis of psychotic disorders in the Registry, yielding a sensitivity of 0.89. Re-running this analysis for the narrow definition of schizophrenia identified 94 patients who were diagnosed with schizophrenia using RDC; 82 of those patients also had a diagnosis of schizophrenia in the Registry, yielding a sensitivity of 0.87. CONCLUSION: In 87% to 89% of cases with psychotic disorders or with schizophrenia, Registry diagnoses agreed with RDC diagnoses, a rate of agreement comparable with those of other, similar registries. Because a large number of analyses derived from this and similar national registries will be published in the coming years, this constitutes relevant information.     

Evaluation of diagnostic procedures in Swedish patients with schizophrenia and related psychoses

We aimed to estimate the value of structured interviews, medical records and Swedish register diagnoses for assessing lifetime diagnosis of patients with schizophrenia. Psychiatric records and diagnostic interviews of 143 Swedish patients diagnosed by their treating physician with schizophrenia and related disorders were scrutinized. Based on record analysis only, or a combined record and interview analysis, DSM-IV diagnoses were obtained by the OPCRIT algorithm. Independent of the OPCRIT algorithm, a standard research DSM-IV diagnosis, based on both record and interview analysis, was given by the research psychiatrist. Concordance rates for the different psychosis diagnoses were calculated. DSM-IV diagnoses based on records only, showed a good to excellent agreement with diagnoses based on records and interviews. Swedish register diagnoses displayed generally poor agreement with the research diagnoses. Nevertheless, 94% of subjects sometimes registered with a diagnosis of schizophrenic psychoses (i.e. schizophrenia, schizoaffective psychosis or schizophreniform disorder) displayed a standard research DSM-IV diagnosis of these disorders. For patients in long-term treatment for schizophrenia in Sweden, psychiatric record reviews should be optimal, cost effective and sufficient for assessment of lifetime research diagnoses of schizophrenia. For these patients a research interview adds little new information. The results further indicate that a Swedish register diagnosis of schizophrenic psychoses has a high positive predictive power to a standard research DSM-IV diagnosis of the disorders. It is concluded that for future Swedish large-scale genetic studies focusing on a broad definition of schizophrenia, it would be sufficient to rely on the Swedish register diagnoses of schizophrenic psychosis.     

Diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia: prognostic implications and diagnostic overlap

The files of 120 hospitalized patients who had participated in drug studies between 1964 and 1966 were examined without knowledge of the patient's subsequent history. These patients, who had originally been diagnosed by DSM-II criteria, were retrospectively diagnosed by New York Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC), the New Haven Schizophrenia Index (NHSI), the St. Louis criteria, Bland and Orn's modification of the St. Louis critera, Schneider's first rank symptoms (FRS) criteria, and the 12-point "Flexible" system developed by the Washington field center of the International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia. By RDC criteria, 12 patients were diagnosed as major depressive disorders and the remaining 108 patients were diagnosed either schizophrenias, schizoaffective disorders, or unspecified functional psychoses. Of these 108, 97 were also diagnosed schizophrenic or schizoaffective by at least three other sets of critera. Ten-year followups were obtained on 82 (68%) of the 120 patients. Outcome was not significantly predicted by either presence or number of FRS, by an NHSI diagnosis of schizophrenia, or by a diagnosis of schizophrenia using the 12-point Flexible system with a 5-point cutoff. However, a significant relationship was found with the St. Louis criteria and the Bland-Orn score obtained from these criteria. An even higher correlation was found between followup and the Stephens-Astrup scale and the Strauss-Carpenter prognostic scale. RDC and DSM-II diagnoses were also significantly correlated with followup but to a lesser degree.     

Comparative evaluation of research diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia.

Criteria for establishing a diagnosis of schizophrenia have been proposed by several different authors. This study compared six different research diagnostic criteria (RDC) in a series of 166 patients who received a clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia in a multicenter study. The alternative criteria differed in the proportion of clinical diagnoses that were confirmed, with the Washington University (Feighner) criteria accepting only 26%. The criteria also disagreed concerning which particular patients qualified for the diagnosis. The Washington University and New York RDC disagreed 50% of the time, and some other disagreement rates were even higher. More evaluative research is needed before arbitrary criteria are permitted to redefine the concept of schizophrenia.     

A family study of DSM-III-R schizoaffective disorder, depressive type, compared with schizophrenia and psychotic and nonpsychotic major depression

OBJECTIVE: To assess the validity of DSM-III-R schizoaffective disorder, the authors explored the morbid risks for schizophrenia and major affective disorders in the first-degree relatives of patients with schizoaffective disorder and relevant other diagnoses. METHOD: In addition to patients with DSM-III-R schizoaffective disorder, depressive type (N = 21), the probands included patients with mood-incongruent psychotic depression (N = 22), mood-congruent psychotic depression (N = 19), nonpsychotic depression (N = 27), or schizophrenia (N = 28) and normal subjects (N = 18). The patients were consecutively recruited from the outpatient facilities of a university psychiatry department; the normal subjects were students and nurses. All probands were directly interviewed, with the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia--Lifetime Version (SADS-L), by a psychiatrist blind to information about relatives. Consenting relatives were directly interviewed, with the SADS-L, by two psychiatrists blind to the probands' diagnoses. The direct interview was supplemented--or replaced, when an interview was not possible (24%)--by family history data from all available sources. Morbid risks in relatives were calculated according to the Weinberg method. RESULTS: The relatives of the schizoaffective patients had almost the same risk for schizophrenia as the relatives of the schizophrenic patients. In the relatives of the patients mood-incongruent psychotic depression, the morbid risk for major affective disorders was about one-half that of the relatives of the patients with mood-congruent psychotic depression and one-third that of the relatives of the patients with nonpsychotic depression, but these differences did not reach statistical significance. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that DSM-III-R schizoaffective disorder is close to schizophrenia and largely corresponds to mainly schizophrenic schizoaffective disorder in the Research Diagnostic Criteria, whereas DSM-III-R mood-incongruent psychotic depression is probably quite heterogeneous and should be studied further.     

Diagnostic issues in chronic schizophrenia: kraepelinian schizophrenia, undifferentiated schizophrenia, and state-independent negative symptoms

Data are presented concerning three recent clinical distinctions in schizophrenia: kraepelinian versus non-kraepelinian patients; mixed versus simple undifferentiated subtypes; and state-dependent versus state-independent negative symptoms. Schizophrenic patients who have been ill and dependent on others for the past 5 years ('kraepelinians') were compared to other chronic schizophrenics. The kraepelinian patients met the criteria for schizophrenia by more diagnostic systems than other patients, were less responsive to haloperidol, had more severe negative symptoms and formal thought disorder, and had similarly severe positive symptoms. They also had cerebral ventricles that demonstrated more left-to-right asymmetry and a greater family history of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Mixed undifferentiated schizophrenic patients, who met criteria for more than one schizophrenic subtype, were compared to simple undifferentiated schizophrenic patients, who met criteria for no subtype. The mixed group was characterized by more severe positive and negative symptoms and formal thought disorder, worse social functioning, and a worse response to haloperidol. In a subgroup of patients who were studied once while in a state of exacerbation and once while in a state of relative remission, the negative symptoms of inattention and affective flattening were state-dependent, while anhedonia-asociality was state-independent.     

The NIMH-DIS in the assessment of DSM-III schizophrenic disorder

The National Institute of Mental Health Diagnostic Interview Schedule (NIMH-DIS) was administered by trained lay interviewers to a sample of 82 outpatients with clinical diagnoses of DSM-III schizophrenic disorder. Of these subjects, 77 percent were also diagnosed as suffering from DSM-III schizophrenic disorder according to the structured interview (NIMH-DIS) administered by a lay interviewer. The DIS interviews were scrutinized to find the reasons for their discrepancy with the clinical diagnoses. A majority of the DIS-negative schizophrenic subjects acknowledged significant psychopathology in the DIS and missed only one of the six DSM-III criteria items for schizophrenia. Test-retest results showed consistency in the subjects' reporting of lifetime schizophrenic symptoms.     

Monoamine metabolites in cerebrospinal fluid of depressive subgroups

Lumbar punctures were performed on 69 patients who met Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) for major affective disorder, while they were drug-free and depressed. None of the patients met RDC for alcoholism. Cerebrospinal fluid 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5-HIAA) and homovanillic acid (HVA) were measured by fluorometry and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) by gas chromatography. Family histories were ascertained by systematic interviews of patients and their relatives, and diagnoses were made by family history diagnostic criteria (Andreasen et al., 1977). Depressed patients with alcoholism in a first degree relative had significantly lower levels of 5-HIAA and MHPG than patients without a family history of alcoholism (p < 0.05). No difference in HVA levels was found. The metabolite differences remained significant when the influence of sex ratio was considered. These results are in agreement with previous work linking alcoholism to abnormal serotonin metabolism. They provide further biochemical evidence of distinct genetic subtypes of affective disorder along lines suggested by Winokur (1979a, 1979b), and illustrate the usefulness of the family history method in defining patient subgroups.