title: The Personality Assessment Inventory as a tool for diagnosing psychogenic nonepileptic seizures.
abstract: Using 184 subjects with valid personality assessment interview (PAI) profiles and video-electroencephalography (VEEG)-confirmed diagnoses of epileptic seizures (ES; n = 109) or psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES; n = 75), we present the diagnostic test performance of the PAI PNES Indicator and other PAI scales when used to differentiate PNES from ES. Subjects with PNES reported significantly higher somatic, conversion, depressed, anxious, and suicidal symptoms. As a diagnostic tool, the PNES Indicator does not add additional accuracy beyond the conversion subscale (SOM-C). The somatization (SOM-S) and physiological depression (DEP-P) subscales perform as well as the SOM-C subscale. The SOM-C scale (cut point > or =70) was 58.7% sensitive and 83.5% specific at diagnosing PNES. Assuming a 30% prevalence of PNES, the SOM-C scale has a positive predictive value (PPV) of 60.4% and negative predictive value (NPV) of 82.5%. Overall, the PAI SOM-C subscale does not appear more accurate than other psychometric tests used to differentiate PNES from ES.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific St. Box 356560, Seattle,WA 98195-6560, USA. awthomp@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Alexander W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hantke
authors.forename: Vaishali
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Phatak
authors.forename: Naomi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chaytor
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011595:Psychomotor Agitation; D012372:ROC Curve; D012640:Seizures / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D014743:Videotape Recording