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Comparative Study
. 2018 Jan;63(1):12-19.
doi: 10.1177/0706743717706347. Epub 2017 Jun 8.

A Psychopathological Comparison between Delusional Disorder and Schizophrenia

José Eduardo Muñoz-Negro  1   2 , Inmaculada Ibáñez-Casas  2   3 , Enrique de Portugal  4 , Vanessa Lozano-Gutiérrez  2 , Rafael Martínez-Leal  5 , Jorge A Cervilla  1   2
Affiliations
Comparative Study

A Psychopathological Comparison between Delusional Disorder and Schizophrenia

José Eduardo Muñoz-Negro et al. Can J Psychiatry. 2018 Jan.

Abstract

Objective: To contribute to a better differential clinical categorisation of delusional disorder (DD) versus schizophrenia (SZ) and to add and complete evidence from previous clinical studies of DD compared to schizophrenia.

Methods: A cross-sectional study using a clinical sample of 275 patients (132 patients with DD) was studied. Patients were consecutively attending public clinics located in urban and rural areas in both Andalusia and Catalonia (Spain). All participants met DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for either DD or SZ. Data were gathered on sociodemographics, illness duration, Barona-Index estimation of intelligence quotient (IQ), and global functioning, along with a thorough psychopathological assessment using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Comparisons between both groups were calculated using χ2, Student t, and multivariate analysis of covariance tests.

Results: Patients with DD were older (mean [SD], 50.3 [14.6] years vs. 36.6 [11.1] years; t = 8.597; P ≤ 0.0001), were more frequently married (45.4% vs. 10.8%; χ2 = 38.569; P ≤ 0.0001), and had a higher mean estimated premorbid IQ (111.4 vs. 105.4; t = 2.609; P ≤ 0.01). On the other hand, SZ patients were predominantly male (71.4% vs. 48.9%; χ2 = 14.433; P ≤ 0.0001) and had greater work-related disability than DD patients (20.5% vs. 50.3%; χ2 = 19.564; P ≤ 0.001). Overall, the DD group showed a less severe PANSS psychopathology than SZ group. Thus, total mean (SD) PANSS scores for schizophrenia and delusional disorder, respectively, were 76.2 (22.4) versus 54.1 (18.4) ( t = -8.762; P ≤ 0.0001). Moreover, patients with DD showed a better global functioning than those with SZ (62.7 [13.2] vs. 51.9 [16.9]; F = 44.114; P ≤ 0.0001).

Conclusions: DD is a milder and distinct disorder compared to SZ in terms of psychopathology and global functionality.

Keywords: delusional disorder; psychopathology; schizophrenia.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

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