The 10-year trajectories of auditory hallucinations among 496 patients with a first schizophrenia-spectrum disorder: Findings from the OPUS cohort

BACKGROUND

Auditory hallucinations represent a key diagnostic feature of schizophrenia and one of the most frequent and debilitating psychotic symptoms. However, little is known regarding their long-term trajectories.

METHODS

We included 496 patients with a first schizophrenia-spectrum disorder. Patients were at baseline and after one, two, five, and ten years asked for auditory hallucinations, scoring from 0 ("None") to 5 ("Severe: Voices occur often every day"). We performed latent class growth analyses to identify trajectories of auditory hallucinations and multinomial logistic regression analyses to estimate predictors of trajectory membership.

RESULTS

We identified three trajectories of auditory hallucinations. The Low-Decreasing class (77%) had the lowest mean score at baseline (mean score = 2.1). The score improved within the first year (mean score = 0.5) and stayed low (mean score = 0 after ten years). The High-Fluctuating class (10%) improved during the first two years from a mean score of 3.0 to 1.0, but increased after five and ten years (mean score = 2.4). The High-Increasing class (13%) started at a high level (mean score = 3.5), improved a little after one year (mean score = 3.0), but increased to a mean score of 4.8 after ten years. Alcohol misuse and longer duration of untreated psychosis were associated with increased odds of being in the High-Increasing compared to the Low-Decreasing class.

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of patients with schizophrenia-spectrum disorder improved on auditory hallucinations during the first ten years, but almost one out of four had a fluctuating course with 13% experiencing an increase to severe and daily auditory hallucinations after ten years.