New evidence in support of staging approaches in schizophrenia: differences in clinical profiles between first episode, early stage, and late stage

The objective of this study was to investigate whether clinical and psychopathological differences exist between first-episode schizophrenia (FES) and multiple-episode patients in an inpatient setting. Patients (N=203) were evaluated using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) over time. Five different generalized estimating equations were built for the PANSS factors using the following as covariates: sex, patient's age, assessment time point (i.e., moment of patient's evaluation, with a minimum of two and a maximum of four assessments throughout the study timeframe).

Source: Comprehensive Psychiatry - November 17, 2016 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Bruno Bertolucci Ortiz, Fernanda Dal Medico Eden, Aline Silva Rodrigues de Souza, Carla Agostinho Teciano, Daniela Malatesta de Lima, Cristiano Noto, Cinthia Hiroko Higuchi, Hugo Cogo-Moreira, Rodrigo Affonseca Bressan, Ary Gadelha Source Type: research