[A prospective study of patient with schizophreniform disorder: a nosological dilemma?].

We study retrospectively 42 inpatients of the psychiatry department of the Ramón y Cajal Hospital, through a period between 1st January of 1988 and the 31st December 1993. All of them were diagnosed at discharge of schizophreniform disorder according to DSM-III R diagnostic criteria and it was in all of them the index episode of the psychosis. Sociodemographic, clinical, evolutive, and therapeutical variables are analyzed. We made a new assessment of the patients in the sample during April 1994 through a direct interview. The mean follow-up period was 4.18 years. The main results were: A predominance of male/female proportion (2/1), nearly half of the sample had emotional or psychosocial stressors previous to the episode. Previous schizoid personality traits were found in 57.1%. 11.9% had first degree relatives antecedents of schizophrenia and 19% of non-bipolar affective disorders. At follow-up 40.4% needed to be hospitalized again. It is noteworthy that 80.9% were rediagnosed during follow-up as schizophrenia.