Systematic characterization of the first psychotic episodes patients may be important in identifying subgroups of patients with a similar course of illness, and may ultimately facilitate diagnosis, treatment, and predicting outcome. The aim of this study was to characterize a population of first psychotic patients in different domains such as psychopathology, prodromal symptoms, drug abuse and socio - demographic variables.

This was a retrospective study carried out in the Department of Psychiatry of a large University Hospital (Centro Hospitalar São João, Porto, Portugal). Patients enrolled were admitted in the inpatient unit from 2007 to 2011, had experienced a first psychotic episode, and fulfilled criteria for one of the following diagnosis: schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, drug induced psychosis, acute and transient psychotic disorders, schizophreniform disorder and psychosis NOS (ICD-10 classification). Data were extracted from clinical records. The analysis focuses on clinical, demographic and social variables.

The study is now under statistic evaluation.