Abstract
Background: The McLean–Harvard First-Episode Project recruited affective and nonaffective
patients at their first lifetime psychiatric hospitalization.
Methods: Baseline evaluation and 6-month follow-up in 257 cases yielded recovery outcomes
defined by syndromal (absence of DSM-IV criteria for a current episode) and functional
(vocational and residential status at least at baseline levels) status. Time to recovery
was assessed by survival analysis, and risk factors by multivariate logistic regression.
Results: Syndromal recovery was attained by 77% of cases over an average of 84 days.
By diagnostic group, syndromal recovery rates ranked (p = .001) major affective disorders (81%) > nonaffective acute psychoses (74%) > schizoaffective
disorders (70%) > schizophrenia (36%). Functional recovery was significantly associated
to syndromal recovery, diagnosis, shorter hospitalization normalized to year, and
older age at onset. Average hospital stay declined across the study period, but recovery
did not vary with year of entry.
Conclusions: Syndromal recovery was achieved by nearly one half of patients within
3 months of a first lifetime hospitalization for a psychotic illness, but functional
recovery was not achieved by 6 months in nearly two thirds of patients who had attained
syndromal recovery.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
May 5,
2000
Received in revised form:
May 3,
2000
Received:
February 10,
2000
Identification
Copyright
© 2000 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
