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Long-term morbidity associated with delayed treatment of first admission schizophrenic patients: a re-analysis of the Camarillo State Hospital data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 1997

R. J. WYATT
Affiliation:
Neuropsychiatry Branch, IRP, National Institute of Mental Health, NIMH Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Washington, DC; UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Western Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Camarillo, California; and Department of Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh Medical School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
M. F. GREEN
Affiliation:
Neuropsychiatry Branch, IRP, National Institute of Mental Health, NIMH Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Washington, DC; UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Western Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Camarillo, California; and Department of Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh Medical School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
A. H. TUMA
Affiliation:
Neuropsychiatry Branch, IRP, National Institute of Mental Health, NIMH Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Washington, DC; UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Western Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Camarillo, California; and Department of Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh Medical School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Abstract

Background. The authors examined data from a follow-up study of first admission schizophrenic patients treated with and without antipsychotic medications, who were discharged from the hospital within 6 months. It was predicted that patients who did not require antipsychotic medications for discharge would have a more favourable long-term outcome.

Methods. The subjects were part of the Camarillo State Hospital study conducted by May and colleagues in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Patients had been randomly assigned to treatment with and without antipsychotic medications. The number of rehospitalization days and total prescribed chlorpromazine equivalents were calculated for each patient for the 2 years following discharge. In order to assess patients' continuing ability to function, 11 patients from each group who met DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia were matched for age, educational status at first admission, race, and gender; their Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF) score was estimated across a period of 6–7 years following discharge.

Results. During the second year following discharge, patients initially treated with antipsychotic medications required fewer rehospitalization days than the initially non-medicated patients. Furthermore, 6–7 years following initial discharge, those patients initially treated with medications were functioning at a higher level, as measured by GAF scores, than patients not initially treated with antipsychotic medications.

Conclusions. The results of this study suggest that, at least for this subgroup of patients, early treatment with antipsychotic medications both decreases the immediate morbidity associated with schizophrenia, and prevents detrimental changes possibly related to prolonged untreated psychosis.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 1997 Cambridge University Press

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