Dataset Information

A cross-sectional mixed methods protocol to describe correlates and explanations for a long duration of untreated psychosis among patients with first episode psychosis in Uganda.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Among patients with psychotic disorders, the 'duration of untreated psychosis' (DUP) is a predictor of key outcomes such as symptom remission and quality of life. In sub-Saharan Africa, DUP is up to five times longer than in high-income countries, with many patients going without antipsychotic medication for 5?years or longer. One contributor to this high DUP may relate to cultural norms that drive use of alternative and complementary therapies (ACTs) as first-line treatment strategies, rather than biomedical care with antipsychotic medicine. We aim to¹ determine the prevalence and factors associated with DUP and ACT use in Uganda, and² Identify factors that drive patient and family choices to use ACT as a first-line treatment strategy.

Methods and analysis

We will leverage on an ongoing cohort study at the national psychiatric and teaching hospital in Uganda. The parent study is an observational cohort design following antipsychotic naïve adults with a first episode of psychosis without substance use, HIV/AIDS or syphilis. The embedded study will use a mixed methods design including quantitative assessment of parent study participants with the Nottingham Onset Schedule-DUP to determine the DUP. Qualitative assessment will focus on patient and caregiver perceptions and use of ACT and its impact on DUP among patients with psychosis using in-depth interviews.

Ethics and dissemination

The study has received ethical approval from the school of medicine research and ethics committee of the college of health sciences at Makerere University. It has also received institutional support to perform the study from the Infectious Diseases Institute and Butabika hospital. Besides publication of the work in reputable peer-reviewed journals, we hope that this work will lead to evidence-based discussions on the need for early interventions to reduce DUP in Uganda.

SUBMITTER: Mwesiga EK

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6661643 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

A cross-sectional mixed methods protocol to describe correlates and explanations for a long duration of untreated psychosis among patients with first episode psychosis in Uganda.

Mwesiga Emmanuel Kiiza EK Nakasujja Noeline N Ongeri Linnet L Semeere Aggrey A Loewy Rachel R Meffert Susan S

BMJ open 20190716 7

<h4>Introduction</h4>Among patients with psychotic disorders, the 'duration of untreated psychosis' (DUP) is a predictor of key outcomes such as symptom remission and quality of life. In sub-Saharan Africa, DUP is up to five times longer than in high-income countries, with many patients going without antipsychotic medication for 5 years or longer. One contributor to this high DUP may relate to cultural norms that drive use of alternative and complementary therapies (ACTs) as first-line treatment ...[more]

PMID: 31315866

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Project description:ImportanceDuration of untreated psychosis (DUP) has been associated with poor outcomes in schizophrenia, but the mechanism responsible for this association is not known.ObjectivesTo determine whether hippocampal volume loss occurs during the initial 8 weeks of antipsychotic treatment and whether it is associated with DUP, and to examine molecular biomarkers in association with hippocampal volume loss and DUP.Design, setting, and participantsA naturalistic longitudinal study with matched healthy controls was conducted at Shanghai Mental Health Center. Between March 5, 2013, and October 8, 2014, 71 medication-naive individuals with nonaffective first-episode psychosis (FEP) and 73 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited. After approximately 8 weeks, 31 participants with FEP and 32 controls were reassessed.ExposuresThe participants with FEP were treated according to standard clinical practice with second-generation antipsychotics.Main outcomes and measuresHippocampal volumetric integrity (HVI) (an automated estimate of the parenchymal fraction in a standardized hippocampal volume of interest), DUP, 13 peripheral molecular biomarkers, and 14 single-nucleotide polymorphisms from 12 candidate genes were determined.ResultsThe full sample consisted of 71 individuals with FEP (39 women and 32 men; mean [SD] age, 25.2 [7.7] years) and 73 healthy controls (40 women and 33 men; mean [SD] age, 23.9 [6.4] years). Baseline median left HVI was lower in the FEP group (n?=?57) compared with the controls (n?=?54) (0.9275 vs 0.9512; difference in point estimate, -0.020 [95% CI, -0.029 to -0.010]; P?=?.001). During approximately 8 weeks of antipsychotic treatment, left HVI decreased in 24 participants with FEP at a median annualized rate of -.03791 (-4.1% annualized change from baseline) compared with an increase of 0.00115 (0.13% annualized change from baseline) in 31 controls (difference in point estimate, -0.0424 [95% CI, -0.0707 to -0.0164]; P?=?.001). The change in left HVI was inversely associated with DUP (r?=?-0.61; P?=?.002). Similar results were found for right HVI, although the association between change in right HVI and DUP did not achieve statistical significance (r?=?-0.35; P?=?.10). Exploratory analyses restricted to the left HVI revealed an association between left HVI and markers of inflammation, oxidative stress, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, glial injury, and markers reflecting dopaminergic and glutamatergic transmission.Conclusions and relevanceAn association between longer DUP and accelerated hippocampal atrophy during initial treatment suggests that psychosis may have persistent, possibly deleterious, effects on brain structure. Additional studies are needed to replicate these exploratory findings of molecular mechanisms by which untreated psychosis may affect hippocampal volume and to determine whether these effects account for the known association between longer DUP and poor outcome.

Dataset Information

A cross-sectional mixed methods protocol to describe correlates and explanations for a long duration of untreated psychosis among patients with first episode psychosis in Uganda.

Introduction

Methods and analysis

Ethics and dissemination

Publications

A cross-sectional mixed methods protocol to describe correlates and explanations for a long duration of untreated psychosis among patients with first episode psychosis in Uganda.

Similar Datasets

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