Dynamic Patterns of Symptoms and Functioning in Predicting Deliberate Self-harm in Patients with First-Episode Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorders Over 3 Years.

OBJECTIVES: Patients with schizophrenia have a significant risk of self-harm. We aimed to explore the dynamic relationship between symptomatology, functioning and deliberate self-harm (DSH) and evaluate the feasibility of developing a self-harm risk prediction tool for patients with first-episode schizophrenia (FES). METHODS: Patients with FES (n = 1234) were followed up for 36 months. Symptomatology, functioning, treatment adherence and self-harm information were obtained monthly over the follow-up period. A time-varying vector autoregressive (VAR) model was used to study the contribution of clinical variables to self-harm over the 36th month. Random forest models for self-harm were established to classify the individuals with self-harm and predict future self-harm events. RESULTS: Over a 36-month period, 187 patients with FES had one or more self-harm events. The depressive symptoms contributed the most to self-harm prediction during the first year, while the importance of positive psychotic symptoms increased from the second year onwards. The random forest model with all static information and symptom instability achieved a good area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC = 0.77 ± 0.023) for identifying patients with DSH. With a sliding window analysis, the averaged AUROC of predicting a self-event was 0.65 ± 0.102 (ranging from 0.54 to 0.78) with the best model being 6-month predicted future 6-month self-harm for month 11-23 (AUROC = 0.7). CONCLUSIONS: Results highlight the importance of the dynamic relationship of depressive and positive psychotic symptoms with self-harm and the possibility of self-harm prediction in FES with longitudinal clinical data.

Prevalence and predictors of medication non-adherence among Chinese patients with first-episode psychosis.

Medication non-adherence is one of the major obstacles to recovery in first-episode psychosis (FEP). This study aimed to identify the predictors and rates of medication non-adherence in the first and second year after the start of treatment (baseline) in urban Chinese FEP patients. Relevant information on medication non-adherence and potential baseline predictors, including demographic variables, clinical measures, violence/suicide attempts, stressful life experiences, intervention received, and follow-up attendance, were collected from case records of 1400 FEP patients in Hong Kong. The non-adherence rate was 16.2% in year 1 and 15.4% in year 2. Regression analyses revealed the predictors for non-adherence in year 1 were no hospitalization at baseline, non-schizophrenia diagnosis, and more years of education. Predictors of non-adherence in year 2 included acute/subacute onset and older age of onset. Predictors common in both years were defaulting from psychiatric follow-up during baseline, standard psychiatric care (no early intervention), and lower positive symptoms severity at baseline. In assessing non-adherence risk and for planning phase-specific early interventions for FEP, particularly in a Chinese context, healthcare professionals should consider the common and specific predictors for non-adherence identified in the first and second years of treatment and should not overlook patients with less clinically severe symptoms.