PMID- 22122691 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20120419 LR - 20191210 IS - 1471-1788 (Electronic) IS - 1365-1501 (Linking) VI - 15 IP - 1 DP - 2011 Mar TI - Global assessment of psychosocial functioning and predictors of outcome in schizophrenia. PG - 62-8 LID - 10.3109/13651501.2010.519035 [doi] AB - OBJECTIVE: This study identified predictors of psychosocial outcome in schizophrenia. METHOD: A mixed group of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia were assessed as part of a routine clinical evaluation. A linear regression analysis was conducted in order to examine the effect of duration of untreated illness, number of previous hospitalisations, history of psychotic episodes and age at illness onset on patients' functioning, as assessed with the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale. RESULTS: Number of previous psychotic episodes as well as duration of untreated illness were the strongest predictors of patients' levels of functioning amongst all main outcome measures. Older age at illness onset also predicted poorer functioning. Limitations. A principal limitation of our study is that our sample included predominantly Caucasian males; therefore, any extrapolation to other groups may remain speculative. CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary results suggest that psychosocial outcome in schizophrenia may be affected by different factors. Longer history of psychotic episodes emerged as the most significant determinant of poorer outcome while longer duration of untreated illness and older age at illness onset were also associated with detrimental effects. Our findings may reflect the combined influences of neurodevelopmental abnormalities, exposure to psychotropic medication and psychosocial interventions as well as the vicissitudes of natural aging processes embedded in a chronic mental illness. FAU - Stefanopoulou, Evgenia AU - Stefanopoulou E AD - Section of Neurobiology of Mood Disorders, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK. FAU - Lafuente, Antonio Romero AU - Lafuente AR FAU - Fonseca, Andres Saez AU - Fonseca AS FAU - Keegan, Shaun AU - Keegan S FAU - Vishnick, Celia AU - Vishnick C FAU - Huxley, Adam AU - Huxley A LA - eng PT - Journal Article DEP - 20101015 PL - England TA - Int J Psychiatry Clin Pract JT - International journal of psychiatry in clinical practice JID - 9709509 SB - IM MH - Adolescent MH - Adult MH - Age of Onset MH - Hospitalization MH - Humans MH - Linear Models MH - Male MH - Middle Aged MH - Outcome Assessment, Health Care MH - Prognosis MH - Psychiatric Status Rating Scales MH - Psychotic Disorders/*complications/epidemiology MH - Schizophrenia/*complications MH - *Schizophrenic Psychology MH - Young Adult EDAT- 2011/11/30 06:00 MHDA- 2012/04/20 06:00 CRDT- 2011/11/30 06:00 PHST- 2011/11/30 06:00 [entrez] PHST- 2011/11/30 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2012/04/20 06:00 [medline] AID - 10.3109/13651501.2010.519035 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Int J Psychiatry Clin Pract. 2011 Mar;15(1):62-8. doi: 10.3109/13651501.2010.519035. Epub 2010 Oct 15.