TY - JOUR
T1 - Reliability of Lifetime Diagnosis
T2 - A Multicenter Collaborative Perspective
AU - Andreasen, Nancy C.
AU - Grove, William M.
AU - Shapiro, Robert W.
AU - Keller, Martin B.
AU - Hirschfeld, Robert M.A.
AU - McDonald-Scott, Patricia
PY - 1981/4
Y1 - 1981/4
N2 - It is important to determine the reliability of lifetime diagnosis in a nonpatient population, for this type of diagnostic data and this type of sample are used in many genetic, epidemiological, and nosological studies. We examined the reliability of lifetime diagnosis when the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Lifetime Version and Research Diagnostic Criteria were used to interview ill and well relatives of probands in the National Institute of Mental Health Collaborative Study of the Psychobiology of Depression. Subjects were interviewed three times, so data are available concerning both short- and longinterval test-retest reliability. Short-interval test-retest reliability was excellent for both diagnoses and symptoms. Reliability was also quite high in the long-interval test-retest study. We conclude that it is possible to make lifetime diagnoses reliably in a nonpatient population.
AB - It is important to determine the reliability of lifetime diagnosis in a nonpatient population, for this type of diagnostic data and this type of sample are used in many genetic, epidemiological, and nosological studies. We examined the reliability of lifetime diagnosis when the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Lifetime Version and Research Diagnostic Criteria were used to interview ill and well relatives of probands in the National Institute of Mental Health Collaborative Study of the Psychobiology of Depression. Subjects were interviewed three times, so data are available concerning both short- and longinterval test-retest reliability. Short-interval test-retest reliability was excellent for both diagnoses and symptoms. Reliability was also quite high in the long-interval test-retest study. We conclude that it is possible to make lifetime diagnoses reliably in a nonpatient population.
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U2 - 10.1001/archpsyc.1981.01780290034003
DO - 10.1001/archpsyc.1981.01780290034003
M3 - Article
C2 - 7212970
AN - SCOPUS:0019412329
SN - 0003-990X
VL - 38
SP - 400
EP - 405
JO - Archives of General Psychiatry
JF - Archives of General Psychiatry
IS - 4
ER -