Validity of remission and recovery criteria for schizophrenia and major depression: comparison of the results of two one-year follow-up naturalistic studies

The objective of the present study was the application and comparison of common remission and recovery criteria between patients with the diagnosis of schizophrenia and major depressive disorder (MDD) under inclusion of other outcome parameters. Patients with schizophrenia and MDD who were treated as inpatients at the beginning of the study were examined within two naturalistic follow-up trials from admission to discharge of an inpatient treatment period and the one-year follow-up assessment. PANSS criteria of the Remission in Schizophrenia Working Group (RSWG) for schizophrenia and HAMD criteria of the ACNP Task Force in MDD for depressive patients as well as the Clinical Global Impression-Severity Scale (CGI-S) were applied as symptomatic outcome measures additionally to functional outcome parameters. Data of 153 schizophrenia patients and 231 patients with a MDD episode have been included in the analysis. More depressive than schizophrenia patients reached a threshold score of <= 3 on the CGI-S, indicating symptomatic remission at discharge and at the one-year follow-up. In contrast similar proportions of patients reaching symptomatic remission at discharge from inpatient treatment and at the one-year follow-up in the schizophrenia and in the MDD group were found when disease-related consensus criteria (RSWG vs. ACNP Task Force) were used. Functional remission and recovery rates were significantly lower in schizophrenia than in depressive patients at the one-year follow-up visit. Common outcome criteria for remission and recovery in schizophrenia and major depression were not directly comparable. However, our results indicated a significantly poorer outcome in schizophrenia than in depressive patients according to terms of remission and recovery