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Characteristics of Subjects With Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorder With and Without Antipsychotic Medication – a 10-Year Follow-Up of the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 September 2011

J. Moilanen ,
M. Haapea ,
J. Miettunen ,
E. Jääskeläinen ,
J. Veijola ,
M. Isohanni  and
H. Koponen
J. Moilanen*
Affiliation:
Institute of Clinical Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital, P.O. BOX 5000, 90014Oulu, Finland
M. Haapea
Affiliation:
Institute of Clinical Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital, P.O. BOX 5000, 90014Oulu, Finland Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland Institute of Biomedicine, Department of Physiology, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
J. Miettunen
Affiliation:
Institute of Clinical Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital, P.O. BOX 5000, 90014Oulu, Finland Institute of Health Sciences, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
E. Jääskeläinen
Affiliation:
Institute of Clinical Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital, P.O. BOX 5000, 90014Oulu, Finland
J. Veijola
Affiliation:
Institute of Clinical Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital, P.O. BOX 5000, 90014Oulu, Finland
M. Isohanni
Affiliation:
Institute of Clinical Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oulu and Oulu University Hospital, P.O. BOX 5000, 90014Oulu, Finland
H. Koponen
Affiliation:
University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Kuopio, Finland
*
⁎Corresponding author. Tel.: +358 44 0690706; fax: +358 8 336169. E-mail address: [email protected] (J. Moilanen).
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Abstract

Objective

To estimate the prevalence of non-medicated subjects having schizophrenia spectrum disorder and to study how they differ from medicated subjects in terms of sociodemographic and illness-related variables. We also aim to find the predictors for successful antipsychotic withdrawal.

Methods

Data of 70 subjects with schizophrenic psychoses (mean duration of illness 10.4 years) from the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort were gathered by interview at the age of 34 and from hospital records. The stability of remission was assessed by comparing hospitalization rates between non-medicated and medicated subjects over an 8.7-year additional follow-up period.

Results

Twenty-four (34%) subjects were currently not receiving medication. They were more often males, less often on a disability pension, more often in remission, and had better clinical outcomes. Relapses during the follow-up were equally frequent between non-medicated and medicated subjects (47% vs. 56%). Not having been hospitalised during previous 5 years before the interview predicted long-term successful antipsychotic withdrawal without relapse.

Conclusions

Despite a lack of precise predictors, there might be subgroup of schizophrenia spectrum subjects who do not need permanent antipsychotic medication, and a fewer previous psychiatric treatments may indicate such a subgroup.

Keywords

AntipsychoticsMedicatedNon-medicatedRemissionSchizophrenia
Type
Original article
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , January 2013 , pp. 53 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2013

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Footnotes

1

Tel.: +358 8 3152480; fax: +358 8 3152112.

2

Tel.: +358 8 3156923; fax: +358 8 336169.

3

Tel.: +358 40 7474376; fax: +358 8 336169.

4

Tel.: +358 40 5237413; fax: +358 8 336169.

5

Tel.: +358 8 3156911; fax: +358 8 336169.

6

Tel.: +358 40 5505996; fax: +358 17 173549.

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