DESCRIBING THE FIRST EPISODE OF PSYCHOSIS IN UGANDA.

Poster A66, Monday, October%208, 11:30%20am%20-%201:00%20pm, Essex%20Ballroom

Emmanuel Kiiza Mwesiga1,2, Dickens Akena1, Noeline Nakasujja1, Seggane Musisi1, Nastassja Koen2, Dan Stein2, Nelson Sewankambo1; 1Makerere University, 2University of Cape Town

The first episode of psychosis is a key period in the course of a psychotic illness as it is predictive of future outcomes. Literature from mainly high income countries has described associated risk factors for its onset and outcomes. There is however a dearth of literature from low and middle income countries on presentation, risk factors and outcomes of the first episode of psychosis. We describe preliminary findings of the first ever cohort of patients with a first episode of psychosis. This is an on-going study for a doctoral thesis taking place at the National teaching and referral psychiatric hospital of Uganda (Butabika Hospital). The participants are adults aged 18 to 60 years presenting with a psychotic episode without prior use of antipsychotic medication. Participants with HIV/AIDS and syphilis are excluded. Diagnoses are confirmed using the MINI. Data collection includes both clinical and biological parameters. Participants also have data collected on duration of untreated psychosis, substance use, quality of life and previous childhood trauma using standardized tools. Participants also have neurocognitive assessments performed using the MATRICS consensus cognitive battery. Samples of blood are drawn from each participant for immunotyping and genotyping. Enrollment is on going and stands at fifty participants. We will present preliminary data on diagnostic, sociodemographic, trauma exposure, substance use, cognitive, immunological, genetic and duration of untreated psychosis. We will also present preliminary outcome data on quality of life.

Topic Area: First Episode Psychosis

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