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Initial medical work‐up of first‐episode psychosis: a conceptual review
Author(s) -
Freudenreich Oliver,
Charles Schulz S.,
Goff Donald C.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
early intervention in psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.087
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1751-7893
pISSN - 1751-7885
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-7893.2008.00105.x
Subject(s) - schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , psychosis , relevance (law) , test (biology) , psychiatry , psychology , disease , medicine , epidemiology , work (physics) , clinical psychology , pathology , paleontology , political science , law , biology , mechanical engineering , engineering
Aim: To help clinicians carry out a comprehensive, medical diagnostic assessment in first‐episode patients who are suspected of developing schizophrenia. Methods: Conceptual review of the published work with emphasis on the diagnostic goals of excluding medical causes of psychosis and establishing a medical baseline. Results: There is no agreed‐upon standard for the initial medical work‐up of first‐episode cases. Excluding secondary causes of schizophrenia requires consideration of likelihood of disease; laboratory test performance; and relevance of positive test results. Conclusions: We propose a medical work‐up for first‐episode psychosis that combines: (i) broad screening; (ii) exclusion of specific diseases informed by treatability and epidemiology; and (iii) medical baseline measures.