Validity of the Iranian version of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I) in the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders

To assess the validity of diagnoses obtained with the Iranian version of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCIO-I).

This study was undertaken in two stages: (a) translation of SCIO-I into Persian (Iranian language), (b) assessing the validity of the Persian version in a sample of Iranian patients. We recruited 299 psychiatric patients- including inpatients and ambulatory cases- from 3 teaching hospitals. A trained SCIO interviewer administered the SCIO and then two psychiatrists developed a consensus diagnosis, using data from multiple sources.

The degree of agreement between SCIO interviews and psychiatrists' diagnosis ranged from "moderate" for obsessive-compulsive and major depressive disorders to "good" for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. With the psychiatrists' diagnosis used as the gold standard, the SCIO-based diagnosis showed high specificity and moderate to high sensitivity for most psychiatric diseases.

The results of this study indicate that the Iranian version of the SCIO is a valid instrument for diagnosis in clinical settings.