Activity-withdrawal, diagnosis, and demographics as predictors of premorbid adjustment.

This study addressed the need for the establishment of clinically viable "easy access" data that could help predict outcome during the earliest stages of hospitalization. The study examined the contributions of an activity-withdrawal rating, a DSM-III diagnosis, and demographic variables to the prediction of prognosis. The subject population consisted of 152 patients drawn from the population of three psychiatric units. Prognosis was predicted successfully by activity-withdrawal, diagnosis, and demographic variables; the best estimate of prognosis resulted from the combination of all the predictor variables. Results are discussed in terms of the individual and joint contributions of the independent variables to prognostic prediction as well as the probable reasons for differential prognosis for each predictor category.