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A Jamaican psychiatrist evaluates diagnoses at a London psychiatric hospital

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 January 2018

F. W. Hickling ,
K. McKenzie ,
R. Mullen  and
R. Murray
F. W. Hickling*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry and Kings College School of Medicine and Dentistry, London
K. McKenzie
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry and Kings College School of Medicine and Dentistry, London
R. Mullen
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry and Kings College School of Medicine and Dentistry, London
R. Murray
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry and Kings College School of Medicine and Dentistry, London
*
Dr F.W. Hickling, Psychotherapy Associates International Ltd, Haverstock House, 81-83 Villa Road, Birmingham B19 INH. Tel: 0121-523-0145; Fax: 0121-523-5062; e-mail: fhickling@msn.com
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Abstract

Background

Authors have suggested that the high rate of schizophrenia reported for African–Caribbeans living in the UK is due to misdiagnosis by British psychiatrists.

Aims

To compare the diagnoses made by a Black Jamaican psychiatrist with those of White British psychiatrists.

Method

All in-patients on four wards at the Maudsley hospital were approached for the study; 66 participated: 24 White, 29 Black African–Caribbeans and 13 Blacks from other countries of origin. F. W. H., a Black Jamaican psychiatrist, conducted his standard clinical assessment and performed the Present State Examination (PSE) on these patients. His diagnoses were compared with the case note diagnoses made by British psychiatrists, and with the PSE CATEGO diagnoses.

Results

Of 29 African and African–Caribbean patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, the diagnoses of the British and the Jamaican psychiatrists agreed in 16 instances (55%) and disagreed in 13 (45%). Hence, interrater reliability was poor (κ=0.45). PSE CATEGO diagnosed a higher proportion of subjects as having schizophrenia than the Jamaican psychiatrist did (χ2=3.74, P=0.052)

Conclusions

Agreement between the Jamaican psychiatrist and his UK counterparts about which patients had schizophrenia was poor. PSE CATEGO may overestimate rates of schizophrenia.

Type
Preliminary Report
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 175 , Issue 3 , September 1999 , pp. 283 - 285
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

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Footnotes

∗

See invited commentaries p. 286. this issue.

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