Diagnostic discrepancies between ICD-10 and DSM-IV in personality disorders
Keywords:
Personality disorders, IPDE, IPDE-DSM-IV, IPDE-ICD-10, Diagnostic agreementAbstract
Introduction. 50 % of the patients seen in the mental health clinics have personality disorders and their diagnosis is very important to establish the patient’s prognosis and treatment. The clinician usually only uses one nosology, the ICD-10 or the DSM-IV and is aware of the differences between them. However, he/she gives preference to his/her favorite nosology.
Material and method. A total of 248 patients seen in a mental health clinic were included in the study. They were diagnosed of anxiety (n = 121) and depressive (n = 127) disorders, with a mean age of 32.3 years for anxiety disorders and 32.4 years depressive disorders. The Interpersonality Disorder Examination (IPDE) Screening Questionnaire in its DSM-IV and ICD-10 versions was administered to observe the degree of concordance between the two nosologies.
Results and discussion. The female population predominated in our sample, these being 35.5 % men with anxiety disorders and 65,5 % women, and 29.10 % men and 70.9 % women with depressive disorders. An observational study was performed by studying the percentage with 3 or more positive items and also percentage with 6 or more positive items. It was observed that the DSM-IV version produced more positive diagnoses and more comorbidity. Thus, it is necessary to consider whether the ICD-10 version subdiagnoses personality disorders or the DSM-IV version gives false positives. The qualitative differences between the ICD-10 and the DSM-IV must also be considered. The ICD-10 does not include narcissistic and schizotypal personality disorders and subdivides the borderline personality disorder into two subcategories, so that a given patient can receive different diagnoses according to the nosology used.
Conclusions. In the patient sample studied, diagnostic discrepancies in personality disorders between DSM-IV and ICD-10 are so important that the WHO and the APA should consider unifying categories and diagnostic criteria of personality disorders in the next nosologies.
