Clinical outcome in bipolar disorder in a community-based follow-up study in Butajira, Ethiopia

OBJECTIVE: To determine the clinical outcome of bipolar disorder in a developing country setup. METHOD: After assessing 68 378 individuals, aged 15-49 years, in a double-sampling design in a rural community in Ethiopia, 312 patients with bipolar disorder were prospectively monitored with symptom rating scales and clinically for an average of 2.5 years. RESULTS: Overall, 65.9% of the cohort experienced a relapse--47.8% manic, 44.3% depressive and 7.7% mixed episodes--and 31.1% had persistent illness. Female gender predicted depressive relapse, while male gender predicted manic relapse. Being on psychotropic medication was associated with remission. CONCLUSION: This large community-based study confirms the relapsing nature of bipolar disorder and a tendency for chronicity. This may be partly because of lack of appropriate interventions in this setting; however, it may also indicate the underlying severity of the disorder irrespective of setting.     

The effect of gender on the long-term course and outcome of schizophrenia in rural Ethiopia: a population-based cohort

Background

Although some studies have suggested that women with schizophrenia are more likely to achieve positive outcomes, the evidence-base is fraught with inconsistencies. In this study we compare the long-term course and outcomes for men and women living with schizophrenia in rural Ethiopia.

Methods

The Butajira course and outcome study for severe mental disorders is a population-based cohort study. Community ascertainment of cases was undertaken between 1998 and 2001, with diagnostic confirmation by clinicians using the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry. Findings from annual outcome assessments were combined with clinical records, patient and caregiver report, and psychiatric assessments at 10–13 years using the Longitudinal Interval Follow-up Evaluation- LIFE chart. For the sub-group of people with schizophrenia (n = 358), we compared course of illness and treatment, co-morbidity, recovery, social outcomes and mortality between men and women. Multivariable analyses were conducted for modelling associations identified in bivariate analyses according to blocks shaped by our a priori conceptual framework of the biological and social pathways through which gender might influence the course and outcome of schizophrenia.

Results

Looking into over 10–13 years of follow-up data, there was no difference in the functioning or recovery in women compared to men (AOR = 1.79, 95% CI = 0.91, 3.57). Women were less likely to report overall life satisfaction (AOR = 0.22, 95% CI = 0.09, 0.53) or good quality of spousal relationships (AOR = 0.09, 95% CI = 0.01–1.04). Men were more likely to have co-morbid substance use and there was a trend towards women being more likely to be prescribed an antidepressant (AOR = 2.38, 95% CI = 0.94, 5.88). There were no gender differences in the course of illness, number of psychotic episodes or adherence to medications.

Conclusion

In this rural African setting, we found little evidence to support the global evidence indicating better course and outcome of schizophrenia in women. Our findings are suggestive of a gendered experience of schizophrenia which varies across contexts. Further investigation is needed due to the important implications for the development of new mental health services in low and middle-income country settings.

     

Duration of untreated psychosis,ethnicity, educational level,and gender in a multiethnic South‐East Asian country: report from Malaysia schizophrenia registry

Introduction: Duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) determines the outcome of schizophrenia. Previously, there was no information about the DUP among patients in Malaysia with schizophrenia. The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between DUP and patients' demographic, social cultural background and clinical features. Method: This is a cross‐sectional study on patients who presented with first episode schizophrenia. Data from 74 primary care centers and hospitals between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2007 were included in the analysis. All patients with first‐episode schizophrenia were enrolled in the study. Results: The mean DUP was 37.6 months. The indigenous community appeared to have the shortest DUP compared to the Malay, Chinese and Indian communities. Female, people with lower educational level, and comorbidity with medical illness during contact had longer DUP. Discussion: DUP in this multiethnicity country was found to be significantly short among the indigenous people, which may sugest that traditional values and strong family and community ties shorten the DUP. Educational level may need to be further investigated, because as upgrading the general educational level could lead to shorter DUP among the patients as well.     

Clinical course and outcome of delusional psychosis

The purpose of the study was to examine first-admitted patients with delusional psychosis meaning functional psychosis with paranoid symptoms with respect to clinical course and outcome. The index population comprised 88 patients. At discharge from first admission the patients were classified according to ICD-8 and DSM-III. According to both diagnostic classifications the majority of the patients did not belong to either of the two major psychotic groups, schizophrenia or affective psychosis. During the 2-year observation period half of the patients took psychotropic drugs continuously, and almost half of the patients experienced one or more relapses. One third of the patients were readmitted, and in average the patients stayed in the hospital for 4 months during the observation period including the time of index admission. At follow-up half of the patients revealed positive psychotic symptoms, while two thirds were moderately or severely impaired because of psychotic illness or personality dysfunction. It is concluded that the present aftercare treatment is insufficient to prevent relapse and psychotic symptoms. In consequence of this the existence of delusions at first admission to hospital because of functional psychosis seems for many to predict an unfavourable course and outcome. Further study will search for clinical and social predictors of course and outcome in patients with delusional psychosis.     

Clinical predictors of course and outcome in delusional psychosis

The purpose of the study was to examine whether clinical variables of first-admitted patients with delusional psychosis were of predictive importance of course and outcome illuminated through the dimensions: psychotic symptoms, impairment, remission, and relapse at 2-year follow-up. Male, sex, age below 30 years, unmarried, long duration of psychosis, and absence of psychosocial stress prior to first admission were all statistically predictive of poor outcome. Concerning nonspecific psychological distress high mean values on the subscales of helplessness-hopelessness, dread and antisocial history were correlated to poor outcome as was low mean value of active expression of hostility. Concerning psychopathology assessed by PSE individual items as lost emotions, thought insertion, thought broadcast, primary delusions and certain auditory hallucinations (voices discussing/commenting subject in third person) predicted poor outcome. Further classes of PSE symptoms as perceptual disorder, thought disorder, and delusions of influence predicted poor outcome too. Other prognostic unfavourable variables were systematisation of delusions, severe preoccupation with present delusions and no suspicion of attempt at concealment of delusions and hallucinations.     

Long-term course and outcome in delusional disorder

Out of 301 first-time admitted patients with delusional psychoses, 71 met Kendler's criteria of delusional disorder (DD) and 137 met the ICD-9 criteria of schizophrenia (S). DD was subdivided according to operational criteria into reactive delusional disorder (RDD) with precipitating factors (n = 31) and non-RDD (n = 40). At follow-up after 22-39 years, 20 RDD patients, 21 non-RDD patients and 85 S patients were personally interviewed. The delusions had faded in 61% of DD cases, were unchanged in 17%, and more prominent in another 17%. Recovery was recorded in 37%, mild defect in 32%, moderate impairment in 10%, and severe impairment in 22% of DD patients. Outcome was more favourable in DD compared with S, in RDD compared with non-RDD, and in non-RDD compared with S. The study supports distinctions between DD and S, RDD and non-RDD, and non-RDD and S based on course and outcome.     

Remission in schizophrenia: a community-based 6-year follow-up study in Bali

Aim: The purpose of this naturalistic study was to investigate the rate and predictors of remission at medium‐term follow up of individuals with schizophrenia in a community setting in Bali. Methods: Subjects comprised 37 individuals with schizophrenia, including 19 never‐treated cases, screened from 8546 general residents. Outcome was evaluated using the standardized symptomatic remission criteria based on Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale scores and operational functional remission criteria at 6‐year follow up. Results: Ten individuals (27%) achieved symptomatic remission, 12 (32%) achieved functional remission, and 10 (27%) achieved complete remission (i.e. symptomatic and functional remission). Lower Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale negative symptom score at baseline and receipt of psychiatric treatment for more than half of the follow‐up period were predictors of complete remission. Conclusions: The majority of community‐screened individuals with schizophrenia failed to achieve complete remission at the 6‐year follow up. These results suggest that strategies promoting mental health service utilization among individuals with schizophrenia are essential in Bali.     

A long-term follow-up study of schizophrenia: psychiatric course of illness and prognosis.

A systematic psychiatric follow-up study of 502 schizophrenics was carried out using the same well-defined criteria to evaluate the patients throughout the investigation. After an average course of disease of 22.4 years, 22.1% of the patients showed complete psychopathological remission, 43.2% had non-characteristic types of remission and 34.7% suffered from characteristic schizophrenic deficiency syndromes. At the time of the last follow-up investigation, 86.7% of the patients were living at home, while 13.3% were permanently hospitalized. Of the entire sample, 55.9% were found to be "socially recovered". Higher education, psychoreactive provocation, depressive traits, perception of delusions, catatonic agitation, non-characteristic thought disorders and symptoms of depersonalization at the onset of the illness tended to carry with them a favorable prognosis. On the other hand, low intelligence, abnormal primary personality, premorbid disturbances in social behavior, broken homes, prolonged prodromal stages, pneumoence-phalographically measurable atrophic or dysplastic changes in the brain ventricles as well as somatic and auditory hallucinations and predominance of hebephrenic symptoms at the onset of the illness tended to lead to an unfavorable prognosis. The principle of the basic reversibility of typical schizophrenic symptoms and the extensive irreversibility of the non-characteristic defect is important for the psychopathological and social long-term prognosis.     

'Schizophrenia postdrome': a study of low-level psychotic experience after remission of first-episode schizophrenia

Background: Despite remission being the primary objective following the first episode of schizophrenia, clinically stabilized patients nevertheless relapse. Aim: To assess the extent and fluctuation of low‐level psychotic symptoms in patients who are in remission after first‐episode schizophrenia and consider whether this is equivalent to symptomatology experienced by those at ‘ultra high risk’ (UHR) of developing first‐episode psychosis. Methods: We examined the phenomenological characteristics of 11 patients who fulfilled international remission criteria using the Structured Interview for Prodromal Symptoms and compared this cohort with an UHR sample. Results: Remitted patients were experiencing attenuated positive symptoms (73%) and brief limited intermittent psychotic symptoms (18%), features that were similarly prevalent in the UHR group. There was no significant fluctuation in these low‐level symptoms over the course of four interviews. Conclusions: Although further research is required in this novel field, such features could form the building blocks for better prediction of psychotic relapse.     

Evaluation of familial influences on the course and severity of schizophrenia among US and Indian cases

Abstract.Background: Prior studies suggest familial (possibly genetic) influences on the course of schizophrenia.Aims: The aim of this study was to compare familial influences on the course and severity of schizophrenia in two independent samples.Method: Thirteen selected measures were compared among affected sibling pairs (ASPs) from Pittsburgh, USA and New Delhi, India (48 US pairs, 53 Indian pairs). For each ASP proband, an unrelated patient was selected randomly from a suitable pool of cases ascertained in the same study (Sibpair proband—comparison case or S-C pairs). Correlations between these pairs were compared.Results: The correlations varied by item and by site. Significant correlations for longitudinal course and pattern of severity were noted among the ASPs from USA, but did not remain significant following corrections for multiple comparisons. Comparisons between the correlations for ASPs and the S-C pairs, used to estimate familial effects, yielded trends for the ASP correlations to be numerically larger than the S-C correlations in both samples. Separate cross-site comparisons revealed several significant differences with regard to several demographic and clinical variables. The possible impact of the cross-site variations on the observed ASP correlations is discussed.Conclusions: Though familial factors did not appear to have a significant impact on course/severity using this novel design, the suggestive trends need to be examined in larger samples.     

Seventeen-year clinical outcome of schizophrenia in Bali

Objective

To examine the 17-year clinical outcome of schizophrenia and its predictors in Bali.

Methods

Subjects were 59 consecutively admitted first-episode schizophrenia patients. Their clinical outcome was evaluated by standardized symptomatic remission criteria based on Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) scores and operational functional remission criteria at 17-year follow-up. The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) over 17 years was also calculated as another index of clinical outcome.

Results

Among these 59 patients, 43 (72.9%) could be followed-up, 15 (25.4%) had died, and one (1.7%) was alive but refused to participate in the study. Combined remission (i.e. symptomatic and functional remission) was achieved in 14 patients (23.7% of original sample). Duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) was a significant baseline predictor of combined remission. Mean age at death of deceased subjects was 35.7, and SMR was 4.85 (95% CI: 2.4-7.3), indicating that deaths were premature. Longer DUP was associated with excess mortality.

Conclusions

The long-term outcome of schizophrenia in Bali was heterogeneous, demonstrating that a quarter achieved combined remission, half were in nonremission, and a quarter had died at 17-year follow-up. DUP was a significant predictor both for combined remission and mortality.     

首发精神分裂症患者持续缓解的预测因素分析

目的:探讨首发精神分裂症患者1年持续缓解的临床与认知预测因素。方法:44例首发精神分裂症患者给予抗精神病药治疗1年,并在基线期采集患者人口学和临床资料,同时采用阳性与阴性症状量表(PANSS)评估疾病症状以及霍普金斯词语学习测验中文修订版(HVLT-R)、Stroop词色测验、彩色连线测验、词语流利测验中文版(VFT:VFL和VFC)评估认知功能;在治疗后4、8、12、24、36周和1年时随访,从第8周末至1年期间,历次访视PANSS量表8个核心条目评分均≤3分者被视为持续缓解(持续缓解组),其他患者视为病情波动(病情波动组)。结果:42例患者完成1年随访,其中24例(57.1%)患者持续缓解;与病情波动组(18例)比较,持续缓解组具有未治疗精神病期(DUP)较短、阴性症状较轻、阳性症状较重、HVLT-R和VFC得分较高的特点(P0.05或P0.001)。多元Logistic回归分析表明持续缓解的患者具有DUP短(OR:0.791,95%CI:0.629~0.995;P=0.003)、阴性症状分低(OR:0.775,95%CI:0.609~0.987;P=0.012)及阳性症状分高(OR:1.706,95%CI:1.040~2.800;P=0.004)是持续缓解的独立预测因素。结论:DUP短、阴性症状较轻、阳性症状较重是首发精神分裂症患者持续缓解的独立预测因素。     

Social course and outcome of delusional psychosis

The purpose of the study was to examine first-admitted patients with delusional psychosis regarding social background, course and outcome. The study was handicapped by the lack of data of social variables as regards population in the catchment area, so comparisons were made with the population in the County and in the Nation. The index population comprised 88 patients. Social variables such as civil state and cohabitation are presented. At admission one-third had been employed continuously during the past year, while one-fourth had had no useful work at all. Significantly more patients were recruited from the lowest social group. Significantly more patients had inadequate social support, and two-thirds met friends less than once a week on an average. Only one-fourth of the patients seemed socially well adjusted and economically self-supporting. At follow-up 2 years later the distribution of the patients as regards useful work, social support, social contacts and social adjustment has significantly changed with more patients now with less useful work and social support, fewer social contacts and increased social maladjustment. The difficulty of interpretation of the findings is stressed but it is concluded that the present psychiatric treatment including social intervention is insufficient to prevent this social downlift mobility during a 2-year observation period as regards patients with delusional psychosis. Further study will search for social predictors of course and outcome.     

Prevalence and course of schizophrenia in a Chinese rural area

OBJECTIVE: To assess the characteristics and factors affecting course of schizophrenia in a Chinese rural area. METHOD: An epidemiological investigation was conducted to identify all the patients with schizophrenia among 149 231 people in Xinjin County, Chengdu. RESULTS: The total prevalence of schizophrenia was 4.13 per 1000 population. Males had an earlier mean age of onset (29.6 years) than females (32.3 years). Duration of illness before treatment and the total duration of illness were found to be significantly associated with level of remission. The status of treatment, family economy, housing, and families' care of patients had a significant effect on the clinical course of the illness. CONCLUSIONS: Duration of illness before treatment may be an important predictor of course in schizophrenia. Early treatment for the patients may produce higher level of improvement in prognosis. Education intervention and community-based service are urgent priorities for these patients.     

Psychosocial outcome in schizophrenia and psychotherapeutic orientation

The purpose was to compare the psychosocial outcome in two groups of schizophrenic patients who were treated by different methods but were in other respects unselected, and to consider factors predictive of the outcome. The first sample, consisting of a total of 100 patients, had received hospital and outpatient care, here called traditional; only 12 of them had received sustained psychotherapy. Of the second sample, comprising 75 patients, 66 were treated in a psychotherapeutic community and 25 also received sustained psychotherapy. All patients were interviewed by the author on an average of 8 years after the first hospitalization. The patients treated in the psychotherapeutic community had remained longer under hospital care, particularly at first, and at the end of follow-up their functional capacity was lower, but they were more satisfied with the treatment received compared with the patients treated traditionally. The samples did not differ in terms of clinical status. The severity of the schizophrenic disorder, including diagnostic category, and a tendency toward grandiose thinking emerged as the most important factors predictive of psychosocial outcome. Premorbid psychosocial development and social support were also relevant to the outcome. After taking the predictor variables into account, extensive hospital care was still associated with a poor outcome. This may in part explain why, despite the greater amount of psychotherapy provided, the functional capacity of the patients who received psychotherapeutic community treatment had poorer outcome than those treated traditionally.     

Determinants of outcome in childhood epilepsy

Possible outcomes with regard to seizures include remission (i.e. no seizures without drug treatment), conditional remission (i.e. no seizures under treatment) and treatment resistance. Several factors have been identified which are associated with favourable or unfavourable outcomes. These include syndrome diagnosis (benign vs severe epilepsy syndromes), seizure types (kind and number), severity of epilepsy, response to treatment (immediate vs delayed, monotherapy vs combinations), and concomitant neurological and psychiatric disorders. However, the quality of disease management by caretakers also has an important influence on the outcome. To determine full remission in patients who are seizure-free with treatment, antiepileptic drugs need to be tapered; generally speaking, this seems to be less risky in children than in adults. However, even if remission without treatment has been reached, an elevated risk of seizures may persist compared with that of the general population. The outcome of epilepsy should not be considered with respect to seizures alone, but should also include more global aspects of performance and quality of life. These may depend on the causes of epilepsy as much as, or more than, on the seizure disorder itself, but may also be related to treatment.     

Twelve-month course of depressive symptoms in older medical inpatients

BACKGROUND: The study aimed: (1) to describe the 12-month course of depressive symptoms among medical inpatients aged 65+, and (2) to investigate predictors of a more severe course that could be identified easily by non-psychiatric staff. METHODS: Patients were recruited at two Montreal hospitals. Inclusion criteria were: aged 65+, admitted to medical service, at most mild cognitive impairment. Patients were screened for major and minor depression (DSM-IV criteria). All depressed patients and a random sample of non-depressed patients were invited to participate in the prospective study. The Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) was administered at admission, 3, 6, and 12 months. Individual patient trajectories of depressive symptoms over time were grouped using hierarchical clustering into three patient groups with a minimal, mild, and moderate/severe course of symptoms, respectively. The baseline predictors of a more severe clinical course were identified using ordinal logistic regression. RESULTS: Two hundred and thirty-two patients completed baseline and one or more follow-up interviews. Baseline patient characteristics that independently predicted a more severe symptom course included higher initial HAMD score, depressive core symptoms lasting 6 months or more, and female sex. CONCLUSION: The 12-month course of depression symptoms in this medically ill older sample was generally stable. Patients who will experience a more severe course can be identified by non-psychiatric staff at admission to hospital.