title: Interrater reliability of schizoaffective disorder compared with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and unipolar depression - A systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: Schizoaffective disorder is a common diagnosis in clinical practice but its nosological status has been subject to debate ever since it was conceptualized. Although it is key that diagnostic reliability is sufficient, schizoaffective disorder has been reported to have low interrater reliability. Evidence based on systematic review and meta-analysis methods, however, is lacking. Using a highly sensitive literature search in Medline, Embase, and PsycInfo we identified studies measuring the interrater reliability of schizoaffective disorder in comparison to schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and unipolar disorder. Out of 4126 records screened we included 25 studies reporting on 7912 patients diagnosed by different raters. The interrater reliability of schizoaffective disorder was moderate (meta-analytic estimate of Cohen's kappa 0.57 [95% CI: 0.41-0.73]), and substantially lower than that of its main differential diagnoses (difference in kappa between 0.22 and 0.19). Although there was considerable heterogeneity, analyses revealed that the interrater reliability of schizoaffective disorder was consistently lower in the overwhelming majority of studies. The results remained robust in subgroup and sensitivity analyses (e.g., diagnostic manual used) as well as in meta-regressions (e.g., publication year) and analyses of publication bias. Clinically, the results highlight the particular importance of diagnostic re-evaluation in patients diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. They also quantify a widely held clinical impression of lower interrater reliability and agree with earlier meta-analysis reporting low test-retest reliability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Cologne Medical School, Kerpener Str. 62, 50937 Cologne, NRW, Germany. Electronic address: h.santelmann@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Hanno
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Santelmann
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Statistics, Informatics and Epidemiology, University of Cologne, Medical School, Kerpener Str. 62, 50937 Cologne, NRW, Germany. Electronic address: jeremy.franklin@uni-koeln.de.
authors.forename: Jeremy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Franklin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Cologne Medical School, Kerpener Str. 62, 50937 Cologne, NRW, Germany. Electronic address: jana.busshoff@web.de.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bußhoff
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Cologne Medical School, Kerpener Str. 62, 50937 Cologne, NRW, Germany. Electronic address: cbaethge@uni-koeln.de.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baethge
mesh_terms: D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*
keywords: Inter-rater; Kappa; Meta-analysis; Reliability; Schizoaffective disorder; Systematic review