title: Clinical effectiveness in first-episode patients.
abstract: Managing patients with first-episode schizophrenia is a challenging task for psychiatrists. Early diagnosis and effective intervention are vital to achieving long-term positive clinical outcomes among first-episode patients. Although these patients are the most responsive to treatment, they are also more susceptible to adverse events. The efficacy and improved tolerability associated with the newer atypical antipsychotics means that these drugs can be used successfully in the treatment and long-term management of schizophrenia from the onset of illness. However, as well as managing the symptoms of the disease, pharmacological treatments need to meet the broader requirements of clinical effectiveness that encompass all of the outcome domains associated with schizophrenia. This article will discuss available data on atypical antipsychotics in first-episode patients and present the primary results from the F1RST (Southwark first-onset psychosis) study, which examined the use of quetiapine for the first-line management of schizophrenia as part of a specialist episode psychosis service.
authors.affiliation: Section of Neurochemical Imaging, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Box 54, London, SE5 8AF, UK. r.ohlsen@iop.kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Ruth I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Ohlsen
authors.forename: Mary S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: O'Toole
authors.forename: Rick G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Purvis
authors.forename: James T R
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Walters
authors.forename: Teresa M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: Hugh M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Lyn S
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Pilowsky
mesh_terms: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents