Relapse rates in an early psychosis treatment service.
To examine the relapse rate achievable in a real-life early psychosis treatment service.


METHODS
A 2-year longitudinal cohort study of consecutive admissions to an early psychosis programme which served the entire population in a catchment area. The primary outcome measure was relapse.


RESULTS
One hundred and forty-eight consecutive consenting admissions were recruited, 124 (83.8%) of whom were followed for 1 year and 116 (78.4%) for 2 years. Relapse was assessed by clinicians using structured criteria. The 2-year relapse rate among subjects with complete data collection was 34/95 (35.7%, 95% CI 26.2-46.3). A Kaplan-Meier life table censoring subjects lost to follow-up yielded a comparable estimate of the proportion not relapsing: 68% (95% CI 58-76%).


CONCLUSIONS
These estimates compare favourably with a published range of 2-year relapse from 55% to 70% in the older literature and are comparable with the results in recent clinical trials.
Addington
D
D
Department of Psychiatry, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.
Addington
M D Jean
MD
Patten
S
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003710:Demography; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D016730:Program Development / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D012008:Recurrence