title: Predictors of the course of illness in outpatients with schizophrenia: a prospective three year study.
abstract: The course of schizophrenia includes a combination of periods of remission and relapse. Previous studies focused on simple dichotomous outcomes and did not take into account the complexity of the course. Using data from a large 3-year follow-up study of schizophrenia, we described the different courses of schizophrenia. Of the 5950 patients with complete 3-year data, 38.7% never achieved remission (prolonged course), 15.7% achieved remission but relapsed and 45.7% achieved and maintained remission (persistent remission). Females, patients with better social functioning at baseline (living independently, in paid employment, socially active or having a spouse or partner) and with a shorter duration of illness had a more favourable course. Patients prescribed risperidone, quetiapine or depot typicals at the baseline visit were more likely to have a prolonged course than patients who started olanzapine. The results show that description of the long-term outcome of schizophrenia cannot be summarized with just one outcome variable.
authors.affiliation: Sant Joan de Déu-SSM, Fundació Sant Joan de Déu, CIBER-SAM, Spain. jmharo@comb.es
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Haro
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Novick
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Suarez
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ochoa
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roca
mesh_terms: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010045:Outpatients; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012008:Recurrence; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents