title: Are UHR patients who present with hallucinations alone at lower risk of transition to psychosis?
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate whether Ultra High Risk for psychosis (UHR) patients who present with hallucinations alone at identification as UHR are at lower risk of transition to psychosis than UHR patients who present with symptoms other than hallucinations or hallucinations plus other symptoms. Our primary dataset was a retrospective "case-control" study of UHR patients (N=118). The second, independent dataset was a long-term longitudinal follow up study of UHR patients (N=416). We performed a survival analysis using Log-rank test and Cox regression to investigate the relationship between symptom variables and transition to a psychotic disorder. Hallucinations alone at baseline were not significantly associated with a reduced risk of transition to psychosis. In the case control study the presence of hallucinations when found in the absence of any thought disorder and visual hallucinations in the absence of substance misuse was associated with a reduced risk of transition to psychosis. In the longitudinal follow-up dataset perceptual disturbance found in the absence of a disorder of affect or emotion was associated with an increased risk of transition to psychosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, Ireland; Orygen Youth Health, North Western Mental Health Service, Melbourne, Australia. Electronic address: karenoconnor2@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.affiliation: Orygen Youth Health, North Western Mental Health Service, Melbourne, Australia; Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
authors.forename: Barnaby
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.affiliation: Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Ashleigh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, UK; Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne & Melbourne Health, Australia.
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.affiliation: Orygen Youth Health, North Western Mental Health Service, Melbourne, Australia; Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Institute of Brain, Behaviour and Mental Health, University of Manchester, UK.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yung
authors.affiliation: Orygen Youth Health, North Western Mental Health Service, Melbourne, Australia; Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, Centre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Warwick University and Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Thompson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D063189:Symptom Assessment
keywords: Hallucination; High-risk; Prodromal; Schizophrenia