In a study by Karow et al,61 44% of 131 patients were in symptomatic remission according to the RSWG symptom based remission criterion. However, only 39% of these remitted patients judged themselves as remitted, 32% were remitted according to their relatives, and 61% according to the psychiatrists. Only in 18% of all cases, patients, relatives and psychiatrists agreed in their assessment of patients’ remission. Remission as assessed by the patients was most divergent from RSWG remission with only 43% accordance, whereas remission as assessed by the psychiatrists

showed the best accordance (80%). Relatives’ estimates showed 52% accordance with the RSWG Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical remission, yet the highest Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical accordance with RSWG nonremission (84%). Comparisons of the different assessments of remission with other clinical measures showed a preference on the patients’ side for subjective well-being and on the psychiatrists’ side for the level of symptoms of psychosis. The results indicated that patients, their relatives, and psychiatrists differ highly in their understanding what state Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of symptom reduction should be called “symptomatic remission.” Conclusions The present review shows that the consensus RSWG remission criteria are clinically

meaningful; they appear achievable for a significant proportion of patients in routine clinical practice and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical are applicable across the course of the illness. Further, validation studies have shown that they are related to a good overall symptomatic status with low levels of overall psychopathology or illness severity, to a better functional status compared with nonremitted patients and, to a less clear VX-765 ic50 extent, to a better quality of life or cognitive performance. On the other hand, these studies have also consistently shown that patients in remission do not automatically have an “adequate” functional level or Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical quality of life. Both results support the assumption that patients being in symptomatic remission

display a better overall illness state, although and it has to be acknowledged that being in symptomatic remission does not necessarily mean that the patient is doing well, because other components of the illness (such as enduring affective or cognitive symptoms) may lead to functional impairments or poor quality of life. Research in this field is among others hampered by the lack of consensus definitions of an “adequate” functional and quality of life status in schizophrenia. Future research should therefore search for such criteria and test whether the fulfillment of the RSWG remission criteria is consistently related to an “adequate” functional and quality of life status.