title: Gender differences in patients with first-episode psychosis in the Singapore Early Psychosis Intervention Programme.
abstract: This study aimed to identify the gender differences among multi-ethnic, Asian patients with first-episode psychosis attending the Early Psychosis Intervention Programme (EPIP) in Singapore.
  
  
  
  Data for this study were derived from 533 (258 female, 275 male) patients aged 16-41 years old in the EPIP database. Socio-demographic data, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for schizophrenia (PANSS) and Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scores at baseline, 3 months, 6 months and 1 year were obtained.
  
  
  
  Significant gender differences were identified in terms of age, marital status, referral source, PANSS scores, GAF scores, remission and recovery over 1 year in the cohort. At service entry, female participants were older, more likely to be married and more likely to be referred from general practitioner/polyclinics (P < 0.0001). They showed better improvement over 1 year in PANSS positive, PANSS total, GAF disability and GAF total scores.
  
  
  
  Overall, female participants in this sample show better improvement than male participants. They showed a better course of illness over 1 year with one-third (33.3%) of female participants achieving recovery compared with approximately a quarter (23.6%) of male participants.
authors.affiliation: Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore. shirlene_pang@imh.com.sg.
authors.forename: Shirlene
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pang
authors.affiliation: Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore.
authors.forename: Mythily
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Subramaniam
authors.affiliation: Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore.
authors.forename: Edimansyah
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Abdin
authors.affiliation: Department of Early Psychosis Intervention, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore.
authors.forename: Lye Yin
authors.initials: LY
authors.lastname: Poon
authors.affiliation: Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore.
authors.forename: Siow Ann
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Chong
authors.affiliation: Department of Early Psychosis Intervention, Institute of Mental Health, Singapore.
authors.forename: Swapna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Verma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012846:Singapore; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: early intervention; early psychosis; first-episode psychosis; gender difference; remission