Cross-Validation of the Arabic Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, Module K, for Diagnosis of Schizophrenia and the Arabic Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale

Abstract

The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview, version 6, module K (MINI6-Mod-K) is a diagnostic tool to confirm schizophrenia; whereas the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale in Schizophrenia (PANSS) is a scale to assess psychotic symptoms severity. The objective of this study was to cross-validate the diagnostic questions (categorical) from the Arabic MINI6-Mod-K with the corresponding items’ scores (dimensional) from Arabic PANSS. Arab subjects (N = 101) were recruited from the Psychiatry Hospital in Qatar. MINI6-Mod-K was used to confirm schizophrenia diagnosis, and PANSS was administered to assess psychopathology by an independent rater. The most common symptoms according to MINI6-Mod-K were the delusions and hallucinations but the PANSS items scores ≥2.5 captured more positive responses on all the diagnostic features of schizophrenia. The cut-off PANSS scores that significantly distinguished between the presence or absence of schizophrenia features on MINI6-Mod-K were mostly between 2.5 and 3.5. Multivariate linear regression showed that negative symptoms and disorganized/catatonic behaviors independently contributed to the PANSS score on positive symptoms subscale. However, none of the symptom questions in the MINI6-Mod-K were significant predictors of the PANSS negative score. Our results showed that there is very good cross-validation between the diagnostic questions of Arabic MINI6-Mod-K and the corresponding positive cut-off scores in Arabic PANSS.