To examine the relationship between the severity of neurological soft signs at onset and at the 1-year follow-up of patients with schizophrenia, and to investigate temporal stability of neurological soft signs within 1 year from the onset of the first episode schizophrenia.

The study included 92 first-episode male schizophrenic patients. Neurological soft signs were assessed on the Neurological Evaluation Scale (NES) during index hospitalization and at a 1-year follow-up. The patients were divided into remitters and non-remitters according to their psychiatric status assessed at the 1-year follow-up, using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS).

A trend for a lower score for the NES item “others” in late remitters versus non-remitters at baseline was found during index hospitalization. At the 1-year follow-up, the overall severity of the neurological soft signs was statistically significantly higher in non-remitters than in remitters. Within 1 year after index hospitalization, a significant reduction of neurological soft signs, with the exception of sensory integration, occurred in remitters. Within 1 year after index hospitalization, the non-remitters reported a significant reduction of the overall NES score.

These findings in a population of patients with first episode schizophrenia are in accord with the findings of previous studies which found an association between neurological soft signs, treatment response and outcome. This association may characterize a subgroup of patients with a poor course of illness and outcome. Neurological soft signs might be regarded as one of the indicators of treatment outcome in patients suffering from their first episode of schizophrenia.

Maintenance treatment appears to be successful in preventing relapses in first episode psychosis, but is also associated with side effects. Guided discontinuation strategy is a less intrusive intervention, but may lead to more relapses. In the current economic evaluation, costs and health outcomes of discontinuation strategy will be compared with the results of maintenance treatment in patients with remitted first episode psychosis.

The study was designed as a randomised clinical trial. In total 128 patients were prospectively followed for 18 months after six months of stable remission. The economic evaluation was conducted from a societal perspective. Quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were used as primary health outcome in the economic evaluation. Relapse rates were assessed in addition to various other secondary outcomes.

There were no relevant differences in mean costs between groups during the study. Total costs were largely influenced by costs related to admissions to psychiatric hospitals. No differences between groups were found for QALY results.

There were no indications that either of the examined interventions is superior to the other in terms of costs or QALY results. Additional results indicated that the relapse rate in discontinuation strategy was twice as high, but without an increase in hospital admissions or negative consequences on other clinical outcomes. For a minority of remitted first episode patients, guided discontinuation strategy may offer a feasible alternative to maintenance treatment.

There is insufficient knowledge of the long-term course of panic disorder (PD).

To determine the long-term course and prognostic variables in patients diagnosed with PD.

Patients who were diagnosed of anxiety states between 1950 and 1961, were examined using a structured clinical interview (SCID-DSM-III-R) between 1984 and 1988 (n = 144). A re-examination was performed in the period 1997–2001 (N = 125). Mean length of follow-up from onset was 47 years.

PD tends to be chronic. Among those who recovered, 93% had done so already by the 1980s. Lack of regular treatment compliance, progression to agoraphobia and number of episodes of panic disorder were associated with worse outcome. Agoraphobia without panic attacks and somatization symptoms were the most prevalent clinical status at follow-up.

After several decades, participants improve with regard to number of panic attacks, though most continue to have residual symptoms.

Depression is one of the most common causes of disability and is associated with substantial reductions in the individual's quality of life. The aim of this study was to estimate the economic burden of depression to Swedish society from 1997 to 2005.

The study was conducted in a cost-of-illness framework, measuring both the direct cost of providing health care to depressive patients, and the indirect costs as the value of production that is lost due to morbidity or mortality. The costs were estimated by a prevalence and top-down approach.

The cost of depression increased from a total of €1.7 billion in 1997 to €3.5 billion in 2005, representing a doubling of the burden of depression to society. The main reason for the cost increase is found in the significant increase in indirect costs due to sick leave and early retirement during the past decade, whereas direct costs were relatively stable over time. In 2005, indirect costs were estimated at €3 billion (86% of total costs) and direct costs at €500 million (16%). Cost of drugs was estimated at €100 million (3% of total cost).

The cost of depression is substantial to society and the main cost driver is indirect costs due to sick leave and early retirement. The cost of depression has doubled during the past eight years making it a major public health concern for the individuals afflicted, carers and decision makers.

There is only limited research on the various legal regulations governing assessment, placement and treatment of mentally ill offenders in European Union member states (EU-member states).

To provide a structured description and cross-boundary comparison of legal frameworks regulating diversion and treatment of mentally disordered offenders in EU-member states before the extension in May 2004. A special focus is on the concept of criminal responsibility.

information on legislation and practice concerning the assessment, placement and treatment of mentally ill offenders was gathered by means of a detailed, structured questionnaire which was filled in by national experts.

The legal regulations relevant for forensic psychiatry in EU-member states are outlined. Definitions of mental disorders given within these acts are introduced and compared with ICD-10 diagnoses. Finally the application of the concept of criminal responsibility by the law and in routine practice is presented.

Legal frameworks for the processing and placement of mentally disordered offenders varied markedly across EU-member states. Since May 2004 the European Union has expanded to 25 member states and in January 2007 it will reach 27. With increasing mobility across Europe, the need for increasing trans-national co-operation is becoming apparent in which great variation in legal tradition pertains.

Naturalistic effectiveness trials of atypical antipsychotics are needed to provide broader information on efficacy, safety, and tolerability in patients with schizophrenia treated in a community practice setting.

in this 26-week, open-label, multicentre study, patients with schizophrenia requiring a switch in antipsychotic medication because current medication was not well tolerated and/or clinical symptoms were not well controlled were randomized to receive aripiprazole or an atypical antipsychotic standard of care (SOC) treatment (i.e., olanzapine, quetiapine, or risperidone based on the investigator's judgment of the optimal treatment for the individual patient and the patient's prior response to antipsychotic medication). The primary objective was to compare the effectiveness of a 26-week treatment of aripiprazole versus SOC, as measured by the investigator Assessment Questionnaire (IAQ) total score at Week 26 last observation carried forward (LOCF) (primary endpoint), a validated measure that monitors relief or worsening of 10 key symptoms associated with the psychopathology of schizophrenia and side effects of antipsychotic treatment. Secondary objectives were to further assess effectiveness using the Clinical Global Impression – Global Improvement (CGI-I) and Clinical Global Impression – Severity of Illness scale, to assess time to treatment discontinuation, patient preference of medication, quality of life, and the tolerability of aripiprazole compared with SOC.

Aripiprazole treatment (n = 268) resulted in significantly better effectiveness than SOC treatment (n = 254; P < 0.001; Week 26 LOCF) as evidenced by the IAQ total score beginning at Week 4 (the first assessment point) and sustained through Week 26. A similar relationship was demonstrated among patients who completed the study (observed cases analysis); aripiprazole was associated with significantly better effectiveness at all time points with a greater differential effect from SOC over time. Patients treated with aripiprazole also demonstrated significantly greater improvements on the CGI-I scale (responder rate, P = 0.009 at Week 26 LOCF), as well as on quality of life (Quality of Life scale total score; P < 0.001 at Week 26). Furthermore, a significantly higher proportion of patients receiving aripiprazole rated their study medication as “much better” on the Preference of Medication Questionnaire (POM) scale than their pre-study medication compared with SOC patients (P < 0.001; Week 26). Time to treatment discontinuation and rates of discontinuation due to adverse events were similar in both treatment groups. The incidence of patients with one or more extrapyramidal symptom (e.g., akathisia, dystonia, parkinsonian events, and residual events) was higher in patients receiving aripiprazole compared with patients treated with SOC (13.5% vs. 5.6%); however, a higher proportion of patients in the SOC-treated group had clinically significant weight gain (21.2% vs. 7.3% for aripiprazole) and potentially clinically relevant elevated fasting levels of total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides, and serum prolactin compared with patients receiving aripiprazole.

Aripiprazole is an effective atypical antipsychotic for the treatment of schizophrenia, demonstrating better effectiveness than SOC agents used in this study in patients for whom a switch in antipsychotic medication was warranted.

Research on adolescent adjustment disorder (AD) is scarce. We characterized adolescent outpatients with AD in psychosocial background and treatment received compared with patients with other non-psychotic disorders (OND). Furthermore, we explored precipitant stressors, distress symptoms and behavioral problems among males and females with AD.

Data were collected prospectively on 290 consecutive psychiatric outpatients, aged 12–22 yrs, at a secondary care clinic in Finland. DSM-III-R diagnoses were assigned, based on all available information, at the end of treatment.

AD was the second most common diagnosis among non-psychotic patients (31% of 290). Compared to OND-patients, those with AD were predominantly female and had less severe psychosocial impairment. In multivariate comparisons school-related stressors, problems with law and restlessness characterized males, and parental illness and internalizing symptoms females with AD. Intensity and duration of treatment of AD-patients varied widely.

Adjustment disorder comprised a common clinical entity among adolescent outpatients. Psychiatric assessment and treatment should be individually targeted by taking into account gender-specific stressors and distress symptoms among young people with AD.

A link between older age of fatherhood and an increased risk of schizophrenia was detected in 1958. Since then, 10 studies attempted to replicate this result with different methods, on samples with different origins, using different age classes. Defining a cut-off at which the risk is significantly increased in the offspring could have an important impact on public health.

A meta-analysis (Meta Win®) was performed, assessing the mean effect size for each age class, taking into account the difference in age class references, and the study design.

An increased risk is detected when paternal age is below 20 (compared to 20–24), over 35 (compared to below 35), 39 (compared to less than 30), and 54 years old (compared to less than 25). Interestingly, 35 years appears nevertheless to be the lowest cut-off where the OR is always above 1, whatever the age class reference, and the smallest value where offspring of fathers below or above this age have a significantly different risk of schizophrenia.

No threshold can be precisely defined, but convergent elements indicate ages below or above 35 years. Using homogeneous age ranges in future studies could help to clarify a precise threshold.

As panic disorder (PD) has a chronic course, it is important to identify predictors that might be related to non-remission. The aim of this study is to verify whether history of trauma and defense style are predictors to pharmacological treatment response in PD patients.

The sample was composed by 47 PD patients according to DSM-IV who were treated with sertraline for 16 weeks. Evaluations were assessed by the C.G.I. (Clinical Global Impression), the Hamilton-Anxiety Scale, the Hamilton-Depression Scale, the Panic Inventory and the DSQ-40 (Defense Style Questionnaire) at baseline and after treatment.

Full remission was observed in 61.7% of the sample. The predictors significantly associated with non-remission were: severity of PD (p = 0.012), age of onset (p = 0.02) and immature defenses (p = 0.032). In addition, the history of trauma was associated with early onset of PD (p = 0.043).

Panic patients had as predictors of worse response to pharmacological treatment the early onset and the severity of PD symptoms as well as the use of immature defenses at baseline. This finding corroborates the relevance of the evaluation of factors that might affect the response so as to enable the development of appropriate treatment for each patient.

A study of N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) can provide data of interest about cortical alterations in psychotic illnesses. Although a decreased NAA level in the cerebral cortex is a replicated finding in chronic schizophrenia, the data are less consistent for bipolar disease. On the other hand, it is likely that NAA values in schizophrenia may differ in men and women.

We used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H MRS) to examine NAA levels in the prefrontal cortex in two groups of male patients, one with schizophrenia (n = 11) and the other with bipolar disorder (n = 13) of similar duration, and compared them to a sample of healthy control males (n = 10). Additionally, we compared the degree of structural deviations from normal volumes of gray matter (GM) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

Compared to controls, schizophrenia and bipolar patients presented decreased NAA to creatine ratios, while only the schizophrenia group showed an increase in CSF in the dorsolateral prefrontal region. There were no differences in choline to creatine ratios among the groups.

These data suggest that the decrease in NAA in the prefrontal region may be similar in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, at least in the chronic state. However, cortical CSF may be markedly increased in schizophrenia patients.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a highly prevalent, chronic condition. Because of its very problematic nature BPD is expected to be associated with substantial societal costs, although this has never been comprehensively assessed.

Estimate the societal cost of BPD in the Netherlands.

We used a prevalence-based bottom-up approach with a sample of 88 BPD patients who enrolled in a multicenter clinical trial comparing two kinds of outpatient psychotherapy. Costs were assessed by means of a structured interview, covering all healthcare costs, medication, informal care, productivity losses, and out-of-pocket expenses. Only BPD-related costs were included. All costs were expressed in Euros for the year 2000. A bootstrap procedure was performed to determine statistical uncertainty.

All patients had been diagnosed with BPD using DSM-IV criteria. Mean age was 30.5 years and 92% was female.

Based on a prevalence of 1.1% and an adult population of 11,990,942, we derived that there were 131,900 BPD patients in the Netherlands. Total bootstrapped yearly cost of illness was €2,222,763,789 (€1,372,412,403–€3,260,248,300), only 22% was healthcare-related. Costs per patient were €16,852.

Although healthcare costs of non-institutionalized Borderline patients might not be disproportionate, total societal costs are substantial.

To compare response rates among patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) treated with either a serotonin-2 (5HT2-) receptor antagonist or a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI).

Medline and PubMed were searched for double-blind, randomized clinical trials comparing either trazodone or nefazodone with an SSRI for the treatment of MDD. Data from 9 reports involving a total 988 patients were identified and combined using a random-effects model.

Patients randomized to treatment with a 5HT2 antagonist were as likely to experience clinical response as patients randomized to treatment with an SSRI (RR = 1.002, 95% CI: 0.85–1.17, P = 0.978). Pooled response rates for trazodone/nefazodone and the SSRis were 61.1% and 61.7%, respectively. There was also no difference in overall discontinuation rates (P = 0.334), discontinuation due to adverse events (P = 0.676), or discontinuation due to inefficacy (P = 0.289) between the two groups.

These results suggest that the 5HT2-receptor antagonists trazodone and nefazodone and the SSRis do not differ with respect to their overall efficacy and tolerability in the treatment of MDD. Although the sample size was relatively large and conveyed sufficient statistical power to test for differences in the overall sample, depression is a heterogeneous condition and differences may exist between treatments in particular subgroups of patients.

Previous findings indicated that schizophrenia patients might have a different personality structure from the general population on several dimensions of temperament and character. Some authors proposed that HA might be a marker of underlying genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia. Studies on high-risk subjects and first degree relatives of patients is essential to test the value of a measure as a marker of genetic vulnerability to a disease. Few studies tested the biopsychosocial model of personality on unaffected relatives of schizophrenia.

We compared the Temperament and Character (TCI) profiles of 94 first degree relatives of schizophrenia and 75 controls. We also investigated the relationship between schizotypy and TCI dimensions in the study sample.

The harm avoidance scores of the relatives of schizoprenia patients with schizotypal features were significantly higher. Self transcendence scores were also significantly higher among relatives with schizotypal features. In contrast, the relatives of the patients with schizophrenia who did not have schizotypal features had higher SD and C scores than the control group.

This finding is consistent with the previous findings which suggested harm avoidance as a vulnerability indicator of schizophrenia. Some character features like self transcendence might be also associated with schizotypal features.

Anorexia nervosa has the highest suicide mortality ratio of psychiatric disorders, suicide being associated with many factors. We assessed the first lifetime occurrence of these factors taking into account their possible overlap.

Three hundred and four in- and out-patients with anorexia nervosa (DSM-IV) were systematically recruited in three hospitals of Paris suburbs, between December 1999 and January 2003. Patients were assessed by a face-to-face interview (DIGS). Current eating disorder dimensions were measured, and patients interviewed by a trained clinician to assess minimal BMI and, retrospectively, the age at which anorexia nervosa, major depressive disorder, anxiety disorders and switch to bingeing/purging type occurred for the first time, if applicable.

Major depressive disorder (p < 0.001) and subtype switch from the restrictive to the bingeing/purging type (p < 0.001) were the two factors significantly more frequently occurring before suicidal attempts, and remained involved when a multivariate analysis is performed, whether syndromic or dimensional measures are being used. Taking into account lifetime occurrence with a survival analysis, the switch to bingeing/purging type of anorexia appears as a major predictive factor, with a large increase of the frequency of suicidal attempts (OR = 15) when compared to patients with neither major depressive disorder nor bingeing/purging type.

Bingeing/purging type of anorexia nervosa is largely associated with suicidal attempts, and may deserve specific attention. If confirmed on a prospectively designed study, these results would argue for early detection and/or more intensive and specific therapeutic intervention on this aspect of bingeing and purging behaviors.

The Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN) is a set of clinical assessment instruments developed under the auspices of WHO. In contrast to other structured diagnostic interviews, SCAN also provides possibilities for dimensional assessment of psychopathology. This paper reports cross-national findings on the psychometric properties of psychopathology scales derived from SCAN 2.1.

Within a randomized controlled trial, SCAN 2.1 was used in Dresden (Germany), Michalovce (Slovak Republic), Prague (Czech Republic), and Wrocław (Poland). Forty-seven items from Part I of SCAN 2.1, identified as qualifying for constructing dimensional measures, were, on the one hand, grouped according to their allocation to five specific SCAN 2.1 sections. On the other hand, principal component analyses were used to group the items according to their statistical relationship. To estimate the reliability of the scales, Cronbach's α was computed. To assess factor similarity across sites, Tucker's congruence coefficients were calculated. To appraise concurrent validity, mean scale scores were compared across different diagnostic groups.

Reliability was qualified as moderate to substantial for all generated scales. Factor-solutions differed across sites. Differences in mean scores supported the assumption that the scales might possess, in addition to face validity, concurrent validity.

This is the first cross-national study on the psychometric properties of psychopathology scales derived from SCAN 2.1, and findings are very encouraging concerning its use as a dimensional measure. However, further studies are needed to substantiate implementation of the scales established.