1. Effectiveness and optimal duration of early intervention treatment in adult-onset psychosis: a randomized clinical trial.
- Author
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Hui CLM, Wong AKH, Ho ECN, Lam BST, Hui PWM, Tao TJ, Chang WC, Chan SKW, Lee EHM, Suen YN, Lam MML, Chiu CPY, Li FWS, Leung KF, McGhee SM, Law CW, Chung DWS, Yeung WS, Yiu MGC, Pang EPF, Tso S, Lui SSY, Hung SF, Lee WK, Yip KC, Kwan KL, Ng RMK, Sham PC, Honer WG, and Chen EYH
- Subjects
- Adolescent, Humans, Adult, Treatment Outcome, Behavior Therapy, Time Factors, Quality of Life, Psychotic Disorders therapy, Psychotic Disorders diagnosis
- Abstract
Background: Contrasting the well-described effects of early intervention (EI) services for youth-onset psychosis, the potential benefits of the intervention for adult-onset psychosis are uncertain. This paper aims to examine the effectiveness of EI on functioning and symptomatic improvement in adult-onset psychosis, and the optimal duration of the intervention., Methods: 360 psychosis patients aged 26-55 years were randomized to receive either standard care (SC, n = 120), or case management for two (2-year EI, n = 120) or 4 years (4-year EI, n = 120) in a 4-year rater-masked, parallel-group, superiority, randomized controlled trial of treatment effectiveness (Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT00919620). Primary (i.e. social and occupational functioning) and secondary outcomes (i.e. positive and negative symptoms, and quality of life) were assessed at baseline, 6-month, and yearly for 4 years., Results: Compared with SC, patients with 4-year EI had better Role Functioning Scale (RFS) immediate [interaction estimate = 0.008, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.001-0.014, p = 0.02] and extended social network (interaction estimate = 0.011, 95% CI = 0.004-0.018, p = 0.003) scores. Specifically, these improvements were observed in the first 2 years. Compared with the 2-year EI group, the 4-year EI group had better RFS total ( p = 0.01), immediate ( p = 0.01), and extended social network ( p = 0.05) scores at the fourth year. Meanwhile, the 4-year ( p = 0.02) and 2-year EI ( p = 0.004) group had less severe symptoms than the SC group at the first year., Conclusions: Specialized EI treatment for psychosis patients aged 26-55 should be provided for at least the initial 2 years of illness. Further treatment up to 4 years confers little benefits in this age range over the course of the study.
- Published
- 2023
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