Schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder? A 50-year assessment of diagnostic stability based on a national case registry.

Background: Schizoaffective disorder (SAD) remains a controversial diagnosis in terms of necessity and reliability.

Objectives: We assessed diagnostic patterns of SAD and schizophrenia (SZ) among hospitalized psychiatric patients over a fifty-year period.

Method: Data from the Israeli National Psychiatric Registry on 16,341 adults diagnosed with SZ or SAD, hospitalized at least twice in 1963-2017, were analyzed.