Short-term outcome of first episode delusional disorder in an early intervention population
Poster A13, Monday, October%208, 11:30%20am%20-%201:00%20pm, Essex%20Ballroom
Tobias Rowland1, Andrew Thompson1, Swaran Singh1, Nicholas Freemantle2, Linda Everard3, Peter Jones4, David Fowler5, Tim Amos6, Max Marshall7, Vimal Sharma8, Maximillian Birchwood1; 1University of Warwick, 2University College London, 3Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health Foundation Trust, 4University of Cambridge, 5University of Sussex, 6University of Bristol, 7Univerisy of Manchester, 8Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Previous evidence suggests that delusional disorder has a later onset and better functional outcomes when compared to schizophrenia. However, these studies have not examined longitudinal outcomes in a first episode population, where confounding factors may be adjusted for. Therefore, a nested case control study was conducted within the National EDEN study; a UK cohort of 1027 first episode psychosis patients. Patients with a baseline diagnosis of delusional disorder (n=48) were compared with schizophrenia (n=262) at 6 and 12 months to determine changes in symptomatic and functional outcomes. Regression analysis was used to adjust for possible confounders. The results showed that delusional disorder patients had a shorter duration of untreated psychosis compared to schizophrenia but were similar in other baseline characteristics. At baseline, delusional disorder patients had lower Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) scores but higher Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scores compared to those with schizophrenia which persisted at 6 and 12 month follow up points. However, after adjusting for confounders the differences between the groups at 12 months remained significant only for PANSS negative, general and total scores. There were no differences in the changes in outcome scores between the groups. Therefore, while delusional disorder may present with less severe symptoms and better functioning than schizophrenia, the illness appears to have a similar trajectory in the short term.
Topic Area: Diagnosis and Phenomenology