[Diagnostic, symptomatic and sanitary assessment of schizophrenic patients in Liege psychiatric institutions].

This study was designed to provide a diagnostic, symptomatologic and sanitary assessment of schizophrenic patients in the network of institutions of the Plate-Forme Psychiatrique Liégeoise (Liège, Belgium). The diagnosis of schizophrenia was based on the DSM IV. Demographic, social and global functioning (GAF scale) data were collected from the Résumé Psychiatrique Minimum (RPM) , a clinical summary which has been imposed for each psychiatric hospital stay by the Belgian Ministry of Public Health. Symptoms components were derived from the Psychosis Evaluation tool for Commom Use by Caregivers (PECC). In the 44 participating institutions, 793 cases of schizophrenia were reported (533 men and 260 women) with a mean age of 46.1 14.4 years. The study confirmed the predominance of men in schizophrenia (67%) but revealed that women were about 6 years higher than men. PECC symptoms were studied in a random sample of 184 patients extracted from the 793 initial patients and analysed with respect to age, sex and type of care (full-time or part-time hospitalization, ambulatory care). Negative, cognitive and total PECC scores did not vary with sex but were positively correlated with age. Hospitalized patients were significantly older than the others. The cognitive deficit was significantly higher in hospitalized patients than in other patients, while the perception of the disease tended to be more apparent in ambulatory than in hospitalized patients. Data were also related to social information and global functioning. The GAF scores increased with age but were comparable in men and women. Moreover, GAF scores were significantly lower in catatonic type schizophrenia patients than in others.