First episode psychosis: register-based study of comorbid psychiatric disorders and medications before and after

Fear and Anxiety in Schizophrenia: A Focus on Development, Assessment, and Mechanisms

In people with schizophrenia, anxiety is highly prevalent and related to numerous negative outcomes; unfortunately, anxiety is both underreported and understudied in schizophrenia. The current review highlights the importance and utility of assessing anxiety in schizophrenia by addressing four main questions: (1) What does anxiety look like throughout the development of schizophrenia?; (2) How do we measure anxiety in schizophrenia?; (3) What are the mechanisms underlying anxiety in schizophrenia; (4) How do we treat anxiety in schizophrenia? We also provide take-home points and propose future directions for the field. We hope this emphasis on the critical role of anxiety in schizophrenia will help researchers appropriately identify the presence of anxiety, better address these symptoms, and improve the lives of people at risk for or experiencing psychosis.

Mental Health Service Use Before First Diagnosis of a Psychotic Disorder

Importance

Characterizing mental health service use trajectories preceding diagnosis of a psychotic disorder may help identify individuals at highest risk and in which settings they are at highest risk.

Objective

To examine mental health service use and diagnostic trajectories before first diagnosis of psychotic disorder and identify utilization and diagnostic patterns.

Design, Setting, and Participants

This population-based, retrospective cohort study used linked provincial health administrative data. The sample included individuals aged 15 to 29 years diagnosed with a psychotic disorder in Ontario, Canada, between April 1, 2012, and March 31, 2018. These individuals were matched to individuals with a diagnosis of a mood disorder. Data were analyzed from November 2018 to November 2019.

Main Outcomes and Measures

The main outcomes were rates, timing, and setting of mental health-related service use and associated diagnoses in the 3 years before the index disorder among individuals first diagnosed with a psychotic disorder compared with those first diagnosed with a mood disorder.

Results

A total of 10 501 individuals with a first diagnosis of psychotic disorder were identified (mean [SD] age, 21.55 [3.83] years; 72.1% male). A total of 72.2% of individuals had at least 1 mental health service visit during the 3 years before their first psychotic disorder diagnosis, which was significantly more than matched controls with a first mood disorder diagnosis (66.8%) (odds ratio [OR], 1.34; 95% CI, 1.26-1.42). Compared with individuals diagnosed with a mood disorder, individuals diagnosed with a psychotic disorder were significantly more likely to have had mental health-related hospital admissions (OR, 3.98; 95% CI, 3.43-4.62) and emergency department visits (OR, 2.27; 95% CI, 2.12-2.43) in the preceding 3 years. Those with psychotic disorders were more likely to have had prior diagnoses of substance use disorders (OR, 2.57; 95% CI, 2.35-2.81), other disorders (personality disorders, developmental disorders) (OR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.61-1.90), and self-harm (OR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.36-1.98) in the past 3 years compared with those diagnosed with mood disorders.

Conclusions and Relevance

This study found that in the 3 years prior to an index diagnosis, individuals with a first diagnosis of psychotic disorder had higher rates of mental health service use, particularly emergency department visits and hospitalizations, compared with individuals with a first diagnosis of a mood disorder. Individuals with psychotic disorders also had a greater number of premorbid diagnoses. Differences in health service utilization patterns between those with a first psychotic disorder diagnosis vs a first mood disorder diagnosis suggest distinct premorbid trajectories that could be useful for next steps in prediction and prevention research.

Medical and Psychiatric Care Preceding the First Psychotic Disorder Diagnosis

BACKGROUND

Individuals with psychotic symptoms experience substantial morbidity and have shortened life expectancies; early treatment may mitigate the worst effects. Understanding care preceding a first psychotic disorder diagnosis is critical to inform early detection and intervention.

STUDY DESIGN

In this observational cohort study using comprehensive information from the Massachusetts All-Payer Claims Database, we identified the first psychotic disorder diagnosis in 2016, excluding those with historical psychotic disorder diagnoses in the prior 48 months among those continuous enrollment data. We reviewed visits, medications, and hospitalizations 2012-2016. We used logistic regression to examine characteristics associated with pre-diagnosis antipsychotic use.

STUDY RESULTS

There were 2505 individuals aged 15-35 years (146 per 100 000 similarly aged individuals in the database) with a new psychotic disorder diagnosis in 2016. Most (97%) had at least one outpatient visit in the preceding 48 months; 89% had a prior mental health diagnosis unrelated to psychosis (eg, anxiety [60%], depression [60%]). Many received psychotropic medications (77%), including antipsychotic medications (46%), and 68% had a visit for injury or trauma during the preceding 48 months. Characteristics associated with filling an antipsychotic medication before the psychotic disorder diagnosis included male sex and Medicaid insurance at psychosis diagnosis.

CONCLUSIONS

In this insured population of Massachusetts residents with a new psychotic disorder diagnosis, nearly all had some healthcare utilization, visits for injury or trauma were common, and nearly half filled an antipsychotic medication in the preceding 48 months. These patterns of care could represent either pre-disease signals, delays, or both in receiving a formal diagnosis.

Lost in Translation: Challenges in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Early-Onset Schizophrenia

Early-onset schizophrenia (EOS) is a heterogeneous condition that has a serious, insidious clinical course and poor long-term mental health outcomes. The clinical presentations are highly complex due to the overlapping symptomatology with other illnesses, which contributes to a delay in the diagnosis. The objective of the review is to study if an earlier age of onset (AAO) of EOS has poor clinical outcomes, the diagnostic challenges of EOS, and effective treatment strategies. The review provides a comprehensive literature search of 5966 articles and summarizes 126 selected for empirical evidence to methodically consider challenges in diagnosing and treating EOS for practicing clinicians. The risk factors of EOS are unique but have been shared with many other neuropsychiatric illnesses. Most of the risk factors, including genetics and obstetric complications, are nonmodifiable. The role of early diagnosis in reducing the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) remains critical to reducing overall morbidity. Many specific issues contribute to the risk and clinical outcomes. Therefore, issues around diagnostic ambiguity, treatment resistance, nonadherence, and rehospitalizations further extend the DUP. There is hesitancy to initiate clozapine early, even though the empirical evidence strongly supports its use. There is a growing body of research that suggests the use of long-acting injectables to address nonadherence, and these measures are largely underutilized in acute settings. The clinical presentations of EOS are complex. In addition to the presence of specific risk factors, patients with an early onset of illness are also at a higher risk for treatment resistance. While there is a need to develop tools for early diagnosis, established evidence-based measures to address nonadherence, psychoeducation, and resistance must be incorporated into the treatment planning.

Co-occurring first-episode psychosis and borderline personality pathology in an early intervention for psychosis cohort

INTRODUCTION

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is common among people diagnosed with first episode of psychosis (FEP), but is often under-recognized and under-researched. This study aimed to determine: (i) the prevalence of borderline personality pathology (subthreshold features and categorical disorder) in a FEP cohort (termed FEP + BPP); (ii) demographic and clinical factors associated with FEP + BPP; (iii) the symptomatic and functional outcomes.

METHODS

This study was conducted within the Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre (EPPIC) at Orygen over the 30-month period between 2014 and 2016. BPP was evaluated by using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Personality Questionnaire BPD criteria.

RESULTS

In a cohort of 457 young people with a FEP (mean age 19.5 years, 56% male), 18.4% had borderline personality pathology (BPP). Compared with FEP alone, young people with FEP + BPP were more likely to be female, younger, Australian-born. In addition, young people with FEP + BPP were more likely to be diagnosed with Psychosis NOS, present with more severe hallucinations, and have alcohol abuse. Young people with FEP + BPP had more relationship difficulties at presentation and they were more likely to suffer of depression and to engage in self-harm throughout the follow-up. In relation to outcome, FEP + BPP was not associated with different rates of remission or relapse, however they were less likely to be admitted to hospital at presentation or involuntarily during their episode of care.

CONCLUSION

BPP is a common occurrence in psychotic disorders and is associated with more severe hallucinations and depression with higher risks of self-harm. Specific interventions need to be developed.

Dynamic Patterns of Symptoms and Functioning in Predicting Deliberate Self-harm in Patients with First-Episode Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorders Over 3 Years

OBJECTIVES

Patients with schizophrenia have a significant risk of self-harm. We aimed to explore the dynamic relationship between symptomatology, functioning and deliberate self-harm (DSH) and evaluate the feasibility of developing a self-harm risk prediction tool for patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES).

METHODS

Patients with FES (n = 1234) were followed up for 36 months. Symptomatology, functioning, treatment adherence and self-harm information were obtained monthly over the follow-up period. A time-varying vector autoregressive (VAR) model was used to study the contribution of clinical variables to self-harm over the 36th month. Random forest models for self-harm were established to classify the individuals with self-harm and predict future self-harm events.

RESULTS

Over a 36-month period, 187 patients with FES had one or more self-harm events. The depressive symptoms contributed the most to self-harm prediction during the first year, while the importance of positive psychotic symptoms increased from the second year onwards. The random forest model with all static information and symptom instability achieved a good area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC = 0.77 ± 0.023) for identifying patients with DSH. With a sliding window analysis, the averaged AUROC of predicting a self-event was 0.65 ± 0.102 (ranging from 0.54 to 0.78) with the best model being 6-month predicted future 6-month self-harm for month 11-23 (AUROC = 0.7).

CONCLUSIONS

Results highlight the importance of the dynamic relationship of depressive and positive psychotic symptoms with self-harm and the possibility of self-harm prediction in FES with longitudinal clinical data.

Borderline personality disorder: associations with psychiatric disorders, somatic illnesses, trauma, and adverse behaviors

In one of the largest, most comprehensive studies on borderline personality disorder (BPD) to date, this article places into context associations between this diagnosis and (1) 16 different psychiatric disorders, (2) eight somatic illnesses, and (3) six trauma and adverse behaviors, e.g., violent crime victimization and self-harm. Second, it examines the sex differences in individuals with BPD and their siblings. A total of 1,969,839 Swedish individuals were identified from national registers. Cumulative incidence with 95% confidence intervals (CI) was evaluated after 5 years of follow-up from BPD diagnosis and compared with a matched cohort. Associations were estimated as hazard ratios (HR) with 95% CIs from Cox regression. 12,175 individuals were diagnosed with BPD (85.3% female). Individuals diagnosed with BPD had higher cumulative incidences and HRs for nearly all analyzed indicators, especially psychiatric disorders. Anxiety disorders were most common (cumulative incidence 95% CI 33.13% [31.48-34.73]). Other notable findings from Cox regressions include psychotic disorders (HR 95% CI 24.48 [23.14-25.90]), epilepsy (3.38 [3.08-3.70]), violent crime victimization (7.65 [7.25-8.06]), and self-harm (17.72 [17.27-18.19]). HRs in males and females with BPD had overlapping CIs for nearly all indicators. This indicates that a BPD diagnosis is a marker of vulnerability for negative events and poor physical and mental health similarly for both males and females. Having a sibling with BPD was associated with an increased risk for psychiatric disorders, trauma, and adverse behaviors but not somatic disorders. Clinical implications include the need for increased support for patients with BPD navigating the health care system.