Validation of PSE/Catego computer programme on Arabic population

ABSTRACT

The validity of the PSE/CATEGO computer programme is assessed on a sample of new 100 psychiatric Arabic patients. The CATEGO based ICD-9 diagnoses were compared to the consensus clinical ICD-9 diagnoses. A "good" overall agreement with Kappa = + 0.71 was achieved for the 3-digit ICD-9 diagnoses. Most disorders have a very good agreement except for paranoid disorder [Kappa = + 0.71] and neurotic disorders [Kappa = + 0.71]. The Index of Definition [ID] suggested cut off point of 5 and above was found to be too high for our sample as it was likely to undetect 10% of cases. The results are discussed with the suggested changes in the CATEGO programme to suit Arabic patients