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The Scottish first episode schizophrenia study
Author(s) -
McCreadie R. G.,
Wiles D.,
Grant S.,
Crockett G. T.,
Mahmood Z.,
Livingston M. G.,
Watt J. A. G.,
Greene J. G.,
Kershaw P. W.,
Todd N. A.,
Scott A. M.,
Loudon J.,
Dyer J. A. T.,
Philip A. E.,
Batchelor D.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1989.tb03032.x
Subject(s) - discontinuation , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , psychosocial , psychiatry , distress , antipsychotic , placebo , psychosis , medicine , research diagnostic criteria , pediatrics , psychology , clinical psychology , alternative medicine , pathology
— Of 49 schizophrenic patients followed up 2 years after their first admission to hospital, 37% were well, 47% had been readmitted to hospital at some time over the 2 years, and 18mo showed schizophrenic symptoms at follow‐up. A poor outcome at 2 years was associated with male sex, poor outcome after the first 5 weeks of the first admission, negative schizophrenic symptoms on first admission, and a diagnosis of definite or probable schizophrenia using the Feighner criteria. Only 23% were in employment. A small double‐blind discontinuation study of maintenance antipsychotic medication during the second year found more relapses in those switched to placebo medication. Repeat psychometric assessment at 2 years confirmed modest improvements found at 12 months; that is, there was no evidence of intellectual decline. Relatives showed no more psychosocial distress than that found in a normal community sample; what distress there was correlated with patients’ schizophrenic symptoms.