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Clinical outcomes in individuals at clinical high risk of psychosis who do not transition to psychosis: a meta-analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2022

Gonzalo Salazar de Pablo
Affiliation:
Early Psychosis: Interventions and Clinical-detection (EPIC) Lab, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IiSGM), CIBERSAM, Madrid, Spain Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
Livia Soardo
Affiliation:
Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
Anna Cabras
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy
Joana Pereira
Affiliation:
Lisbon Psychiatric Hospital Center, Lisbon, Portugal
Simi Kaur
Affiliation:
Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
Filippo Besana
Affiliation:
Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
Vincenzo Arienti
Affiliation:
Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
Francesco Coronelli
Affiliation:
Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
Jae Il Shin
Affiliation:
Department of Paediatrics, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Marco Solmi
Affiliation:
Early Psychosis: Interventions and Clinical-detection (EPIC) Lab, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK Department of Psychiatry, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Department of Mental Health, The Ottawa Hospital, Ontario, Canada Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) Clinical Epidemiology Program University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario
Natalia Petros
Affiliation:
Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
Andre F. Carvalho
Affiliation:
IMPACT (Innovation in Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Treatment) Strategic Research Centre, School of Medicine, Barwon Health, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia
Philip McGuire
Affiliation:
Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
Paolo Fusar-Poli*
Affiliation:
Early Psychosis: Interventions and Clinical-detection (EPIC) Lab, Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy OASIS service, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK National Institute for Health Research, Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
*
Author for correspondence: Paolo Fusar-Poli, E-mail: paolo.fusar-poli@kcl.ac.uk
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Abstract

Aims

The clinical outcomes of individuals at clinical high risk of psychosis (CHR-P) who do not transition to psychosis are heterogeneous and inconsistently reported. We aimed to comprehensively evaluate longitudinally a wide range of outcomes in CHR-P individuals not developing psychosis.

Methods

“Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses” and “Meta-analysis Of Observational Studies in Epidemiology”-compliant meta-analysis (PROSPERO: CRD42021229212) searching original CHR-P longitudinal studies in PubMed and Web of Science databases up to 01/11/2021. As primary analysis, we evaluated the following outcomes within CHR-P non-transitioning individuals: (a) change in the severity of attenuated psychotic symptoms (Hedge's g); (b) change in the severity of negative psychotic symptoms (Hedge's g); (c) change in the severity of depressive symptoms (Hedge's g); (d) change in the level of functioning (Hedge's g); (e) frequency of remission (at follow-up). As a secondary analysis, we compared these outcomes in those CHR-P individuals who did not transition vs. those who did transition to psychosis at follow-up. We conducted random-effects model meta-analyses, sensitivity analyses, heterogeneity analyses, meta-regressions and publication bias assessment. The risk of bias was assessed using a modified version of the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS).

Results

Twenty-eight studies were included (2756 CHR-P individuals, mean age = 20.4, 45.5% females). The mean duration of follow-up of the included studies was of 30.7 months. Primary analysis: attenuated psychotic symptoms [Hedges’ g = 1.410, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.002–1.818]; negative psychotic symptoms (Hedges’ g = 0.683, 95% CI 0.371–0.995); depressive symptoms (Hedges’ g = 0.844, 95% CI 0.371–1.317); and functioning (Hedges’ g = 0.776, 95% CI 0.463–1.089) improved in CHR-P non-transitioning individuals; 48.7% remitted at follow-up (95% CI 39.3–58.2%). Secondary analysis: attenuated psychotic symptoms (Hedges’ g = 0.706, 95% CI 0.091–1.322) and functioning (Hedges’ g = 0.623, 95% CI 0.375–0.871) improved in CHR-P individuals not-transitioning compared to those transitioning to psychosis, but there were no differences in negative or depressive symptoms or frequency of remission (p > 0.05). Older age was associated with higher improvements of attenuated psychotic symptoms (β = 0.225, p = 0.012); publication years were associated with a higher improvement of functioning (β = −0.124, p = 0.0026); a lower proportion of Brief Limited Intermittent Psychotic Symptoms was associated with higher frequencies of remission (β = −0.054, p = 0.0085). There was no metaregression impact for study continent, the psychometric instrument used, the quality of the study or proportion of females. The NOS scores were 4.4 ± 0.9, ranging from 3 to 6, revealing the moderate quality of the included studies.

Conclusions

Clinical outcomes improve in CHR-P individuals not transitioning to psychosis but only less than half remit over time. Sustained clinical attention should be provided in the longer term to monitor these outcomes.

Information

Type
Original Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press
Figure 0

Fig. 1. PRISMA Flowchart Outlining Study Selection Process.

Figure 1

Table 1. Characteristics of the included studiesa

Figure 2

Fig. 2. Clinical outcomes CHR-P individuals who do not transition to psychosis. Positive values of Hedge's g indicate improvements at follow-up compared to baseline.

Figure 3

Fig. 3. Clinical outcomes in CHR-P individuals not-transitioning to psychosis vs. those transitioning to psychosis at follow-up, with 95% CIs. Positive values of Hedge's g or OR indicate higher improvements in CHR-P individuals not transitioning to psychosis v. those transitioning to psychosis.

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