Baseline Data from a First-Episode Schizophrenia Sample
Poster A76, Monday, October%208, 11:30%20am%20-%201:00%20pm, Essex%20Ballroom
Ditte Lammers Vernal1, Helle Østermark Sørensen1, Jan Brink Valentin1, René Ernst Nielsen1,2; 1Aalborg University Hospital, Psychiatry, North Denmark Region, Denmark, 2Institute of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University, Denmark
Objective: Schizophrenia is a complex disorder with diversity in clinical presentation. We aim to assess associations of symptoms in patients with first-episode schizophrenia aged 18-35 years in a naturalistic, observational study. Methods: The patients are recruited from an early-intervention team (OPUS) in the North Denmark Region and assessed at baseline and end of treatment after two years. Baseline assessments are conducted within the first three months of inclusion in the early intervention team among patients with consent. The assessment battery consist of clinical interviews, tests and questionnaires, investigating both psychopathology (e.g. PANSS, GAF, CGI, Y-BOCS, CDS), cognitive and psychosocial functioning (WAIS, CANTAB, PSP), suicidality present and lifetime (CSSR-S), insight and meta-cognition (IPII, MAS-A, BCIS and Birchwood), drug attitudes (DAI-10), side-effects (UKU), trauma history (BTQ) and autistic traits (AQ). Results: At present, 64 patients have been recruited. The mean age was 24.2 (SD 4.5), 56% of the sample were males and paranoid schizophrenia was the most common subtype (65%). IQ was in the normal range (92.7, SD 11.6). Global scores of functioning were low (mean GAF-F: 46; mean GAF-S: 42) and severity measured by the CGI was 4.3. The PANSS-total score was 67. The majority had a family history of mental disorders (68.5%). At the time of the IEPA conference, we will present baseline data of approximately 80 patients with first-episode schizophrenia as well as analyses of associations between symptoms and cognitive domains.
Topic Area: First Episode Psychosis