A comparative study of diagnostic practice in psychiatry in Northern Norway and Northwest Russia

Background The co-operation between psychiatrists in Norway and Russia is increasing.The object of this study was to find out whether there were differences in diagnostic practice of psychiatrists in both countries, to look at the nature of the differences and to examine whether these differences affected diagnostic quality. Method Thirty medical doctors working at psychiatric hospitals in both countries diagnosed 12 clinical case vignettes selected from a wide spectre of psychiatric disorders. Results The Russian clinicians used a larger range of diagnoses than the Norwegians.The Russians tended to diagnose schizophrenia and schizophrenia- like disorders in cases that presented psychotic syndromes, and somatoform disorders in cases that presented agoraphobia. The Norwegians tended to evaluate affective aspects in preference to psychotic symptoms in the case of schizoaffective disorder and overestimate the degree of depression. In general, the Russians had lower total score of correct answers than the Norwegians. Conclusion In spite of the limitations due to minor differences in the data collection phase in the two countries, the study clearly demonstrates differences in diagnostic practice between the countries.