TY - JOUR
T1 - Diagnostic interview for genetic studies
T2 - Rationale, unique features, and training
AU - Nurnberger, J. I.
AU - Blehar, M. C.
AU - Kaufmann, C. A.
AU - York-Cooler, C.
AU - Simpson, S. G.
AU - Harkavy-Friedman, J.
AU - Severe, J. B.
AU - Malaspina, D.
AU - Reich, T.
AU - Miller, M.
AU - Bowman, E. S.
AU - DePaulo, J. R.
AU - Cloninger, C. R.
AU - Robinson, G.
AU - Moldin, S.
AU - Gershon, E. S.
AU - Maxwell, M. E.
AU - Guroff, J. J.
AU - Kirch, D.
PY - 1994
Y1 - 1994
N2 - This article reports on the development and reliability of the Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies (DIGS), a clinical interview especially constructed for the assessment of major mood and psychotic disorders and their spectrum conditions. The DIGS, which was developed and piloted as a collaborative effort of investigators from sites in the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Genetics Initiative, has the following additional features: (1) polydiagnostic capacity; (2) a detailed assessment of the course of the illness, chronology of psychotic and mood syndromes, and comorbidity; (3) additional phenomenologic assessments of symptoms; and (4) algorithmic scoring capability. The DIGS is designed to be employed by interviewers who exercise significant clinical judgment and who summarize information in narrative form as well as in ratings. A two-phase test-retest (within-site, between-site) reliability study was carried out for DSM-III-R criteria-based major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorder. Reliabilities using algorithms were excellent (0.73 to 0.95), except for schizoaffective disorder, for which disagreement on estimates of duration of mood syndromes relative to psychosis reduced reliability. A final best-estimate process using medical records and information from relatives as well as algorithmic diagnoses is expected to be more reliable in making these distinctions. The DIGS should be useful as part of archival data gathering for genetic studies of major affective disorders, schizophrenia, and related conditions.
AB - This article reports on the development and reliability of the Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies (DIGS), a clinical interview especially constructed for the assessment of major mood and psychotic disorders and their spectrum conditions. The DIGS, which was developed and piloted as a collaborative effort of investigators from sites in the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Genetics Initiative, has the following additional features: (1) polydiagnostic capacity; (2) a detailed assessment of the course of the illness, chronology of psychotic and mood syndromes, and comorbidity; (3) additional phenomenologic assessments of symptoms; and (4) algorithmic scoring capability. The DIGS is designed to be employed by interviewers who exercise significant clinical judgment and who summarize information in narrative form as well as in ratings. A two-phase test-retest (within-site, between-site) reliability study was carried out for DSM-III-R criteria-based major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorder. Reliabilities using algorithms were excellent (0.73 to 0.95), except for schizoaffective disorder, for which disagreement on estimates of duration of mood syndromes relative to psychosis reduced reliability. A final best-estimate process using medical records and information from relatives as well as algorithmic diagnoses is expected to be more reliable in making these distinctions. The DIGS should be useful as part of archival data gathering for genetic studies of major affective disorders, schizophrenia, and related conditions.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/0028134880
U2 - 10.1001/archpsyc.1994.03950110009002
DO - 10.1001/archpsyc.1994.03950110009002
M3 - Review article
C2 - 7944874
AN - SCOPUS:0028134880
SN - 0003-990X
VL - 51
SP - 849-859+863-864
JO - Archives of General Psychiatry
JF - Archives of General Psychiatry
IS - 11
ER -