OBTAINING A FAMILY PSYCHIATRIC HISTORY - IS IT WORTH THE EFFORT

The purpose of this study was to determine whether, for first-degree r elatives of patients presenting to a mood disorders clinic, family his tory information on psychiatric conditions collected by a psychiatrist and incorporated into the patient's medical records is as informative as that gathered during an interview specifically designed to collect family history data. The study group consisted of 472 first-degree re latives of 78 randomly selected index cases from a large mood disorder s genetic database. Family history of psychiatric disorders recorded i n regular psychiatric medical records (''clinician history''), and dat a obtained by a genetic counsellor administering specific family psych iatric history questionnaires to patients and multiple family informan ts (''family history'') were compared using a kappa statistic. Good ag reement between the two methods on the presence or absence of a psychi atric disorder was found among first-degree relatives of index cases, but poor agreement was found with respect to the presence or absence o f a specific mood disorder diagnosis(es) in a relative. The results su ggest that a clinician-generated family psychiatric history is sensiti ve to the presence or absence of a psychiatric disorder when compared to a more structured detailed genetic interview. However, for research purposes, a clinician-generated family psychiatric history of a speci fic mood disorder diagnosis, without supporting collateral information , may not be reliable for use in supporting a mood disorder diagnosis in a patient and/or his relatives.