Mapping 20-Year Global Functioning Trajectories in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders.
Schizophrenia is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Functional outcomes vary widely across individuals, yet evidence on long-term functional trajectories is scarce. We aim to identify 20-year trajectories of global functioning, examine baseline predictors of trajectory membership, and explore distal outcomes.
Three hundred seventy-six participants with a first-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorder from the OPUS randomized controlled trial were included. We applied Latent Growth Mixture Models to identify distinct trajectories of global functioning over 20-years, tested baseline variables as predictors of trajectory membership, and 20-year clinical, cognitive, and quality-of-life outcomes were mapped to explore the distal consequences of following each trajectory.
Three functional trajectories emerged: Functional recovery (21%), maintaining high functioning; Moderate improvement group (37%), with initial gains and later decline; and Impaired functioning group (42%), showing persistent disability. Membership in the impaired trajectory was predicted by the following baseline variables: male sex, older age, schizophrenia diagnosis, higher negative symptom, and not completing high school. At the 20-year follow-up, individuals in the Functional recovery trajectory demonstrated the most favorable outcomes, while those in the Impaired functioning trajectory exhibited the poorest outcomes across all key domains-symptom remission, cognitive performance, psychological quality of life, self-perceived general health, substance use, and suicide ideation.
The absence of significant improvement over 2 decades for many patients is alarming and highlights the limitations of current treatment approaches in modifying the functional course of these patients.
Three hundred seventy-six participants with a first-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorder from the OPUS randomized controlled trial were included. We applied Latent Growth Mixture Models to identify distinct trajectories of global functioning over 20-years, tested baseline variables as predictors of trajectory membership, and 20-year clinical, cognitive, and quality-of-life outcomes were mapped to explore the distal consequences of following each trajectory.
Three functional trajectories emerged: Functional recovery (21%), maintaining high functioning; Moderate improvement group (37%), with initial gains and later decline; and Impaired functioning group (42%), showing persistent disability. Membership in the impaired trajectory was predicted by the following baseline variables: male sex, older age, schizophrenia diagnosis, higher negative symptom, and not completing high school. At the 20-year follow-up, individuals in the Functional recovery trajectory demonstrated the most favorable outcomes, while those in the Impaired functioning trajectory exhibited the poorest outcomes across all key domains-symptom remission, cognitive performance, psychological quality of life, self-perceived general health, substance use, and suicide ideation.
The absence of significant improvement over 2 decades for many patients is alarming and highlights the limitations of current treatment approaches in modifying the functional course of these patients.
Authors
Abella Abella, Hansen Hansen, Hjorthøj Hjorthøj, Albert Albert, Madsen Madsen, Nordentoft Nordentoft, Starzer Starzer
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