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Gender differences of patients at-risk for psychosis regarding symptomatology, drug use, comorbidity and functioning – Results from the EU-GEI study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2020

Stephanie Menghini-Müller
Affiliation:
aCenter for Gender Research and Early Detection, University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Basel, Switzerland bUniversity of Basel, Department of Psychology, Division of Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology, Basel, Switzerland
Erich Studerus
Affiliation:
aCenter for Gender Research and Early Detection, University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
Sarah Ittig
Affiliation:
aCenter for Gender Research and Early Detection, University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
Ulrike Heitz
Affiliation:
aCenter for Gender Research and Early Detection, University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
Laura Egloff
Affiliation:
aCenter for Gender Research and Early Detection, University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
Christina Andreou
Affiliation:
aCenter for Gender Research and Early Detection, University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
Lucia R. Valmaggia
Affiliation:
dDepartment of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
Matthew J. Kempton
Affiliation:
cDepartment of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
Mark van der Gaag
Affiliation:
eVU University, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Sciences, Department of Clinical Psychology and EMGO+ Institute for Health Care Research, Amsterdam, the Netherlands fParnassia Psychiatric Institute, Department of Psychosis Research, The Hague, the Netherlands
Lieuwe de Haan
Affiliation:
gAMC, Academic Psychiatric Centre, Department Early Psychosis, Amsterdam, the Netherlands hArkin, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Barnaby Nelson
Affiliation:
iCentre for Youth Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
Neus Barrantes-Vidal
Affiliation:
jDepartament de Psicologia Clínica I de la Salut (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), Fundació Sanitària Sant Pere Claver (Spain), Spanish Mental Health Research Network (CIBERSAM), Spain
Merete Nordentoft
Affiliation:
kMental Health Center Copenhagen, Mental Health Services in the Capital Region of Denmark, Denmark lInstitute for Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Stephan Ruhrmann
Affiliation:
mDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
Gabriele Sachs
Affiliation:
nMedical University of Vienna, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Austria
Bart P. Rutten
Affiliation:
oDepartment of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht, the Netherlands
Jim van Os
Affiliation:
pDepartment Psychiatry, Brain Centre Rudolf Magnus, Utrecht University Medical Centre, Utrecht, the Netherlands qDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychology, School for Mental Health and Neuroscience (MHeNS), Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, the Netherlands rKing's College London, King's Health Partners Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom
Anita Riecher-Rössler*
Affiliation:
aCenter for Gender Research and Early Detection, University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Basel, Switzerland
*
*Corresponding author at: University of Basel Psychiatric Hospital, Center for Gender Research and Early Detection, Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, 4002 Basel, Switzerland. E-mail address: anita.riecher@upk.ch

Abstract

Background:

Gender differences in symptomatology in chronic schizophrenia and first episode psychosis patients have often been reported. However, little is known about gender differences in those at risk of psychotic disorders. This study investigated gender differences in symptomatology, drug use, comorbidity (i.e. substance use, affective and anxiety disorders) and global functioning in patients with an at-risk mental state (ARMS) for psychosis.

Methods:

The sample consisted of 336 ARMS patients (159 women) from the prodromal work package of the EUropean network of national schizophrenia networks studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI; 11 centers). Clinical symptoms, drug use, comorbidity and functioning were assessed at first presentation to an early detection center using structured interviews.

Results:

In unadjusted analyses, men were found to have significantly higher rates of negative symptoms and current cannabis use while women showed higher rates of general psychopathology and more often displayed comorbid affective and anxiety disorders. No gender differences were found for global functioning. The results generally did not change when corrected for possible cofounders (e.g. cannabis use). However, most differences did not withstand correction for multiple testing.

Conclusions:

Findings indicate that gender differences in symptomatology and comorbidity in ARMS are similar to those seen in overt psychosis and in healthy controls. However, observed differences are small and would only be reliably detected in studies with high statistical power. Moreover, such small effects would likely not be clinically meaningful.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2019
Figure 0

Table 1 Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics.

Figure 1

Table 2 Gender differences in psychopathology and functioning.

Figure 2

Fig. 1. Standardized mean differences (d) and 95% confidence intervals of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Comprehensive Assessment At-Risk Mental State (CAARMS), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) and Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS). The bold vertical line at zero represents the severity of symptomatology in men. Differences are significant if the 95% confidence interval (horizontal line) does not overlap with zero.

Figure 3

Table 3 Gender differences in drug use and comorbidity.

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