Diagnostic Stability of Schizophrenia in Psychiatric Emergency Room Patients |
| |
Authors: | Dirk M. Dhossche Shareh O. Ghani |
| |
Affiliation: | (1) Department of Psychiatry, University of South Alabama College of Medicine, Mobile, Alabama, 36693 |
| |
Abstract: | Diagnoses obtained from the hospital computer system were compared at two consecutive visits in 286 psychiatric emergency room patients within a 7-month period. Diagnostic agreement of schizophrenia and changes from and to schizophrenia were examined. There was moderate stability for a schizophrenic diagnosis in patients at two consecutive visits (kappa 0.5). schizophrenia was a more stable diagnosis in males (kappa 0.6) than females (0.4). Underdiagnosis of schizophrenia in females may be due to initial diagnostic confusion with affective illnesses. Further studies are needed in other settings to assess if underdiagnosis is associated with undertreatment of schizophrenia in females. |
| |
Keywords: | Psychiatric emergency room diagnosis schizophrenia gender |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |