Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T10:48:46.455Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Latent structure of psychosis in the general population: results from the Singapore Mental Health Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2013

M. Subramaniam*
Affiliation:
Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Buangkok Green Medical Park, Singapore
E. Abdin
Affiliation:
Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Buangkok Green Medical Park, Singapore
J. A. Vaingankar
Affiliation:
Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Buangkok Green Medical Park, Singapore
S. Verma
Affiliation:
Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Buangkok Green Medical Park, Singapore
S. A. Chong
Affiliation:
Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Buangkok Green Medical Park, Singapore
*
* Address for correspondence: M. Subramaniam, M.B.B.S., M.H.S.M., Deputy Director, Research Division, Institute of Mental Health, Buangkok Green Medical Park, 10 Buangkok View, Singapore 539 747, Singapore. (Email: [email protected])

Abstract

Background

Few studies have examined the latent construct of psychotic symptoms or distinguished between the latent construct and its manifest indicators. The current study aimed to investigate the latent structure of psychotic symptoms using factor mixture modeling (FMM) and to use the best-fitting model to examine its sociodemographic and clinical correlates.

Method

The Singapore Mental Health Study (SMHS) was based on an adult representative sample of the Singapore population. Psychotic symptoms were assessed by using the Psychosis Screen section of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview version 3.0 (CIDI 3.0). FMM analyses were applied to determine the latent construct of psychotic symptoms. Sociodemographic and clinical correlates of the latent structure of psychosis symptoms were examined using multiple linear and logistic regression analyses.

Results

The overall weighted lifetime prevalence of any psychotic experience was 3.8% in the SMHS after excluding subthreshold experiences. The FMM analysis clearly supported the dimensional model of the latent structure of psychotic symptoms. On deriving the total score for ‘psychosis symptoms’ in accordance with the one latent trait model, and correlating it with sociodemographic factors, we found that female gender, vocational education, current and past smokers were positively associated with the ‘psychosis’ total score.

Conclusions

There is a need for an increased understanding of, and research into, this intermediate state of ‘psychosis symptoms’ that do not meet diagnostic criteria for psychosis. It is also important to learn more about the group of individuals in the community who may have preserved functioning to elucidate the protective factors that prevent transition to psychosis.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahmed, AO, Buckley, PF, Mabe, PA (2012). Latent structure of psychotic experiences in the general population. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 125, 5465.Google Scholar
Alptekin, K, Ulas, H, Akdede, BB, Tümüklü, M, Akvardar, Y (2009). Prevalence and risk factors of psychotic symptoms: in the city of Izmir, Turkey. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 44, 905910.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borsboom, D, Cramer, AO, Schmittmann, VD, Epskamp, S, Waldorp, LJ (2011). The small world of psychopathology. PLoS One 6, e27407.Google Scholar
Broome, MR, Woolley, JB, Tabraham, P, Johns, LC, Bramon, E, Murray, GK, Pariante, C, McGuire, PK, Murray, RM (2005). What causes the onset of psychosis? Schizophrenia Research 79, 2334.Google Scholar
Carpenter, WT, van Os, J (2011). Should attenuated psychosis syndrome be a DSM-5 diagnosis? American Journal of Psychiatry 168, 460463.Google Scholar
Chong, SA, Mythily, , Lum, A, Chan, YH, McGorry, P (2005). Determinants of duration of untreated psychosis and the pathway to care in Singapore. International Journal of Social Psychiatry 51, 5562.Google Scholar
Chong, SA, Vaingankar, J, Abdin, E, Subramaniam, M (2012). The prevalence and impact of major depressive disorder among Chinese, Malays and Indians in an Asian multi-racial population. Journal of Affective Disorders 138, 128136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Correll, CU, Lencz, T, Smith, CW, Auther, AM, Nakayama, EY, Hovey, L, Olsen, R, Shah, M, Foley, C, Cornblatt, BA (2005). Prospective study of adolescents with subsyndromal psychosis: characteristics and outcome. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology 15, 418433.Google Scholar
EuroQol Group (1990). EuroQol – a new facility for the measurement of health-related quality of life. Health Policy 16, 199208.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Georgiades, S, Szatmari, P, Boyle, M, Hanna, S, Duku, E, Zwaigenbaum, L, Bryson, S, Fombonne, E, Volden, J, Mirenda, P, Smith, I, Roberts, W, Vaillancourt, T, Waddell, C, Bennett, T, Thompson, A; Pathways in ASD Study Team (2013). Investigating phenotypic heterogeneity in children with autism spectrum disorder: a factor mixture modeling approach. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines 54, 206215.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Guardiano, B, Dairymple, KL, Zimmermann, M (2009). Prevalence and clinical characteristics of psychotic versus nonpsychotic major depression in a general psychiatric outpatient clinic. Depression and Anxiety 26, 5464.Google Scholar
Hanssen, M, Bak, M, Bijl, R, Vollebergh, W, van Os, J (2005). The incidence and outcome of subclinical psychotic experiences in the general population. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 44, 181191.Google Scholar
Johns, LC, van Os, J (2001). The continuity of psychotic experiences in the general population. Clinical Psychological Review 21, 11251141.Google Scholar
Kelleher, I, Cannon, M (2011). Psychotic-like experiences in the general population: characterizing a high-risk group for psychosis. Psychological Medicine 41, 16.Google Scholar
Kelleher, I, Keeley, H, Corcoran, P, Lynch, F, Fitzpatrick, C, Devlin, N, Molloy, C, Roddy, S, Clarke, MC, Harley, M, Arseneault, L, Wasserman, C, Carli, V, Sarchiapone, M, Hoven, C, Wasserman, D, Cannon, M (2012). Clinicopathological significance of psychotic experiences in non-psychotic young people: evidence from four population-based studies. British Journal of Psychiatry 201, 2632.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kendler, KS, Gallagher, TJ, Abelson, JM, Kessler, RC (1996). Lifetime prevalence, demographic risk factors, and diagnostic validity of nonaffective psychosis as assessed in a US community sample. The National Comorbidity Survey. Archives of General Psychiatry 53, 10221031.Google Scholar
Kendler, KS, Zachar, P, Craver, C (2011). What kinds of things are psychiatric disorders? Psychological Medicine 41, 11431150.Google Scholar
Kessler, RC, Birnbaum, H, Demler, O, Falloon, IR, Gagnon, E, Guyer, M, Howes, MJ, Kendler, KS, Shi, L, Walters, E, Wu, EQ (2005). The prevalence and correlates of nonaffective psychosis in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R). Biological Psychiatry 58, 668676.Google Scholar
Kessler, RC, Ustun, TB (2004). The World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative version of the World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research 13, 93121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kessler, RC, Wittchen, HU, Abelson, J, Zhao, S (2000). Methodological issues in assessing psychiatric disorder with self-reports. In The Science of Self-Report: Implications for Research and Practice (ed. Stone, AA, Turrkan, JS, Bachrach, CA, Jobe, JB, Kurtzman, HS and Cain, VS), pp. 229255. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: Mahwah, NJ.Google Scholar
Lichtenstein, P, Yip, BH, Björk, C, Pawitan, Y, Cannon, TD, Sullivan, PF, Hultman, CM (2009). Common genetic determinants of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in Swedish families: a population-based study. Lancet 373, 234239.Google Scholar
Lo, YT, Mendell, NR, Rubin, DB (2001). Testing the number of components in a normal mixture. Biometrika 88, 767778.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loch, AA, Wang, YP, Rössler, W, Tófoli, LF, Silveira, CM, Andrade, LH (2011). The psychosis continuum in the general population: findings from the São Paulo Epidemiologic Catchment Area Study. European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience 261, 519527.Google Scholar
Lubke, G, Neale, M (2006). Distinguishing between latent classes and continuous factors: resolution by maximum likelihood? Multivariate Behavioral Research 41, 499532.Google Scholar
Lubke, G, Tueller, S (2010). Latent class detection and class assignment: a comparison of the MAXEIG taxometric procedure and factor mixture modeling approaches. Structural Equation Modelling: A Multidisciplinary Journal 17, 605628.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Markon, KE, Krueger, RF (2006). Information-theoretic latent distribution modeling: distinguishing discrete and continuous latent variable models. Psychological Methods 11, 228243.Google Scholar
Meehl, PE (1995). Bootstraps taxometrics. Solving the classification problem in psychopathology. American Psychologist 50, 266275.Google Scholar
Muthén, B (2006). Should substance use disorders be considered as categorical or dimensional? Addiction 1, 616.Google Scholar
Muthén, B (2008). Latent variable hybrids: overview of old and new models. In Latent Variable Mixture Models (ed. Hancock, G. R. and Samuelsen, KM), pp. 124. Information Age: Charlotte, NC.Google Scholar
Muthén, L, Muthén, B (2009). Mplus 5.21 User's Guide. Muthén & Muthén: Los Angeles, CA.Google Scholar
Nuevo, R, Chatterji, S, Verdes, E, Naidoo, N, Arango, C, Ayuso-Mateos, JL (2012). The continuum of psychotic symptoms in the general population: a cross-national study. Schizophrenia Bulletin 38, 475485.Google Scholar
Nylund, KL, Asparouhov, T, Muthén, B (2007). Deciding on the number of classes in latent class analysis and growth mixture modeling: a Monte Carlo simulation study. Structural Equation Modelling: A Multidisciplinary Journal 14, 535569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poulton, R, Caspi, A, Moffitt, TE, Cannon, M, Murray, R, Harrington, H (2000). Children's self-reported psychotic symptoms and adult schizophreniform disorder: a 15-year longitudinal study. Archives of General Psychiatry 57, 10531058.Google Scholar
Poyurovsky, M, Faragian, S, Shabeta, A, Kosov, A (2008). Comparison of clinical characteristics, co-morbidity and pharmacotherapy in adolescent schizophrenia patients with and without obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatry Research 159, 133139.Google Scholar
Poyurovsky, MD, Fuchs, C, Weizman, A (1999). Obsessive-compulsive disorder in patients with first-episode schizophrenia. American Journal of Psychiatry 156, 19982000.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Razali, SM, Najib, MA (2000). Help-seeking pathways among Malay psychiatric patients. International Journal of Social Psychiatry 46, 281289.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rössler, W, Riecher-Rössler, A, Angst, J, Murray, R, Gamma, A, Eich, D, van Os, J, Gross, VA (2007). Psychotic experiences in the general population: a twenty-year prospective community study. Schizophrenia Research 92, 114.Google Scholar
Schwarz, G (1978). Estimating the dimension of a model. Annals of Statistics 6, 461464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shioiri, T, Shinada, K, Kuwabara, H, Someya, T (2007). Early prodromal symptoms and diagnoses before first psychotic episode in 219 inpatients with schizophrenia. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences 61, 348354.Google Scholar
Strakowski, SM, Keck, PE Jr, McElroy, SL, Lonczak, HS, West, SA (1995). Chronology of comorbid and principal syndromes in first-episode psychosis. Comprehensive Psychiatry 36, 106112.Google Scholar
Subramaniam, M, Vaingankar, J, Heng, D, Kwok, KW, Lim, YW, Yap, M, Chong, SA (2012). The Singapore Mental Health Study: an overview of the methodology. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research 21, 149157.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Thomson, KN, Conus, PO, Ward, J, Phillips, LJ, Koutsogiannis, J, Leicester, S, McGorry, PD (2003). The initial prodrome to bipolar affective disorder: prospective case studies. Journal of Affective Disorders 77, 7985.Google Scholar
Tibbo, P, Warneke, L (1999). Obsessive-compulsive disorder in schizophrenia: epidemiologic and biologic overlap. Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience 24, 1524.Google ScholarPubMed
van Os, J, Linscott, RJ, Myin-Germeys, I, Delespaul, P, Krabbendam, L (2009). A systematic review and meta-analysis of the psychosis continuum: evidence for a psychosis proneness-persistence-impairment model of psychotic disorder. Psychological Medicine 39, 179195.Google Scholar
Verdoux, H, van Os, J (2002). Psychotic symptoms in non-clinical populations and the continuum of psychosis. Schizophrenia Research 54, 5965.Google Scholar
Verdoux, H, van Os, J, Maurice-Tison, S, Gay, B, Salamon, R, Bourgeois, ML (1999). Increased occurrence of depression in psychosis-prone subjects: a follow-up study in primary care settings. Comprehensive Psychiatry 40, 462468.Google Scholar
Xiang, YT, Ma, X, Cai, ZJ, Li, SR, Xiang, YQ, Guo, HL, Hou, YZ, Li, ZB, Li, ZJ, Tao, YF, Dang, WM, Wu, XM, Deng, J, Lai, KY, Ungvari, GS (2008). Prevalence and socio-demographic correlates of schizophrenia in Beijing, China. Schizophrenia Research 102, 270277.Google Scholar