Prospective relationship between duration of untreated psychosis and 13-year clinical outcome: a first-episode psychosis study.

Background: The adverse effects of a long duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) have been explored in numerous short-term studies. These studies support the development of early interventions that reduce treatment delay and promote recovery. However, the enduring impact of DUP is largely unknown, partly due to the paucity of prospective long-term studies.

Longitudinal changes in semantic categorization performance after symptomatic remission from first-episode psychosis: a 3-year follow-up study.

Semantic categorization abnormalities have been observed in schizophrenia, but studies have rarely focused on the longitudinal trajectory. In this study, we consider semantic performance and the relationship with symptomatic changes during recovery from a first-episode of schizophrenia over a period of 3 years. Thirty-seven first-episode patients with schizophrenia were compared to thirty-seven matched controls in a categorization task.

Antipsychotics and risk of cerebrovascular events in treatment of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia in Hong Kong: a hospital-based, retrospective, cohort study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the risk of cerebrovascular adverse events (CVAEs) in patients with behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) treated with typical or atypical antipsychotics in Hong Kong

Method: This was a retrospective cohort study. Patients aged 65 or above, diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, vascular or mixed dementia, and first attended the psychiatric service of our unit between 1st January 2000 to 30th June 2007 were studied. The patients were divided into three groups according to their antipsychotic usage.

The incidence and characteristics of clozapine- induced fever in a local psychiatric unit in Hong Kong.

Objective: To determine the incidence, characteristics, and predictors of clozapine-induced fever in a sample of patients in a local psychiatric unit.

Method: A retrospective review of case notes of 227 inpatients newly started on clozapine from March 2003 to December 2006 was conducted. Demographic characteristics, presence of fever, investigations carried out, fever characteristics, and complications of fever were recorded and analyzed.

A prospective 3-year longitudinal study of cognitive predictors of relapse in first-episode schizophrenic patients.

Background: Cognitive predictors of relapse have been extensively explored only in few long term longitudinal studies of first-episode schizophrenia.

Method: This study prospectively followed 93 patients with first-episode schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, and schizoaffective disorder for 3 years after their first-episode illness. Cognitive domains including verbal intelligence, verbal and visual memory, verbal fluency, and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance were investigated as potential predictors of relapse.

The impact of family experience on the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) in Hong Kong.

Background: Previous family experience of psychotic illness may play an important role in whether and when a patient seeks help in first-episode psychosis. This study investigated the relationship between family experience of psychosis and the duration of untreated psychosis in a prospective sample of first-episode psychosis patients in Hong Kong. We also studied the effects of pre-morbid adjustment, educational level, living alone, and mode of onset as potential determinants of the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP).

A 3-year prospective study of neurological soft signs in first-episode schizophrenia.

Neurological soft signs are biological traits that underlie schizophrenia and are found to occur at higher levels in at-risk individuals. The expression of neurological soft signs may be modifiable during the onset of the first psychotic episode and the subsequent evolution of the illness and its treatment. This study investigates neurological soft signs in 138 patients with first-episode schizophrenia and tracks the expression of motor soft signs in the following 3 years.