Clinical and psychometric validation of the psychotic depression assessment scale.

Background: Recent studies have indicated that the 11-item Psychotic Depression Assessment Scale (PDAS), consisting of the 6-item melancholia subscale (HAM-D6) of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and 5 psychosis items from the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), is a valid measure for the severity of psychotic depression. The aim of this study was to subject the PDAS, and its depression (HAM-D6) and psychosis (BPRS5) subscales to further validation.

Methods: Patients diagnosed with psychotic depression at Danish psychiatric hospitals participated in semi-structured interviews.

The validity of the schizophrenia diagnosis in the Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register is good.

Introduction: The Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register (DPCRR) has been used extensively for research purposes during the past decades. The aim of this study was to investigate the validity of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 schizophrenia diagnosis in the DPCRR.

Material And Methods: A random sample of 300 patients with a first-time diagnosis of schizophrenia (ICD-10 codes F20.

Characteristics and predictors of long-term institutionalization in patients with schizophrenia.

Background: Patients with schizophrenia requiring long-term institutionalization represent those with the worst outcome, leading to personal costs for patients and relatives and constituting a large economical burden for society.

Aim: To identify characteristics and predictors of outcome of institutionalized patients with schizophrenia.

Method: One-year follow-up cohort study, utilizing the Danish national registers, of all institutionalized and non-institutionalized patients with schizophrenia in Denmark with an ICD-10 lifetime diagnosis of schizophrenia (F20.