Accuracy of chart diagnoses of alcoholism in patients with a history of psychosis.

At two psychiatric clinics, 76 patients with a history of psychosis were interviewed by a researcher blind to the presence or absence of a chart diagnosis of alcoholism. Another person blind to research diagnosis ascertained the chart diagnosis of alcoholism. The lifetime prevalence of alcoholism, according to a structured research interview, was 45% at a mental health center, and 29% at a teaching hospital clinic. When compared to the lifetime prevalence of alcoholism, as determined by the research interview, chart diagnoses had sensitivities of 21% and 20%, respectively; specificity was 100% at both sites. Psychiatric chart diagnoses are not sensitive indicators of psychiatric patients' alcoholism.