Establishing the cut-off scores for the severity ranges of schizophrenia on the BPRS-6 scale: findings from the REAP-AP

ABSTRACT Objective: Using data from the Research on Asian Psychotropic Prescription Patterns for Antipsychotics (REAP-AP), our study aimed to establish the remission and severity ranges (mild, moderate, and severe) of schizophrenia on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale-6 (BPRS-6). Methods: A total of 1,438 patients with schizophrenia from India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and Taiwan were enrolled in the study. Using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses, the optimal cut-off scores for the remission and severity ranges on the BPRS-6 were established. Results: The scalability of the BPRS-6 was considered to have an acceptable “unidimensionality” (coefficient of scalability = 0.43). The cut-off scores for the remission of schizophrenia and mild, moderate, and severe schizophrenia can be optimally defined as the BPRS-6 total score of <5, 5–9, 10–19 and >20, respectively. Conclusion: The BPRS-6 can be a promising, brief, and unidimensional rating scale to supplement the measurement-based care of schizophrenia.