Gender Differences in Optimal Cut Scores on the Personality Assessment Inventory for Diagnosing Epileptic and Psychogenic Non-epileptic Seizures

Abstract
Diagnosing psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) requires admission to an epilepsy monitoring unit, which is a lengthy and expensive process. Despite the cost of and time commitment to this inpatient evaluation, a definitive diagnosis at the end isn’t always guaranteed. Therefore, predictor variables such as demographic information and psychological testing scores can help improve the accuracy of diagnosing PNES or epilepsy at the end of a patient’s EMU admission. Locke et al. have demonstrated that the SOM scale and SOM-C subscale on the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) are the best indicators for predicting PNES diagnosis, with an optimal cut score of T≥70 on both of these scales. The aim of the current study was to determine whether evaluating male and female performance separately on these relevant PAI scales improves the accuracy of diagnosing PNES. The results support the hypothesis, such that male optimal cut scores on the SOM and SOM C scales are T=80 and T=75, respectively, and female optimal cut scores on the SOM and SOM C scales are T=71 and T=72, respectively. Utilizing the results of this study can help clinicians diagnose patients with PNES or epilepsy at the end of EMU evaluation with more certainty.