The Camden Schizophrenia Surveys. III: Five-year outcome of a sample of individuals from a prevalence survey and the importance of social relationships.

Background: Most studies of outcome in schizophrenia have focused on incidence cohorts or samples identified through specialist mental health services; population-based samples provide a more complete picture of the effectiveness of community services.

Aims: To examine whether outcome predictors, derived from studies of selected patients with prolonged schizophrenia, would emerge in a largely community-dwelling population sample.

Methods: A follow-up sample of 114 adults with schizophrenia was identified via two censuses of key informants conducted for two prevalence surveys in North London, five years apart.