Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1-2018
Journal
American Journal of Psychiatry
Volume
175
Issue
5
First Page
443
Last Page
452
URL with Digital Object Identifier
10.1176/appi.ajp.2017.17050480
Abstract
Objective: Earlypsychosisintervention(EPI)programsimprove clinical and functional outcomes for people with first-episode psychosis. Lessisknownabout the impactof these programs on the larger health care system. The authors sought to compare indicators of health service use, self-harm, suicide, and mortality between people with first-episode psychosis who were using EPI services and a propensity-matched group of concurrent control subjects who were not accessing EPI services. Method: A retrospective cohort of incident cases of nonaffective psychosis in the catchment area of the Prevention and Early Intervention Program for Psychoses in London, Ontario, between 1997 and 2013 was constructed using health administrative data. This cohort was linked to primary data from the same program to identify people who used EPI services. Outcomes for people who used EPI services and those who did not were compared using Cox proportional hazards models. Results: People who used EPI services had substantially lower rates of all-cause mortality in the 2-year period after EPI program admission (hazard ratio=0.24, 95% CI=0.11-0.53), although a significant difference in self-harm (hazard ratio=0.86, 95% CI=0.18-4.24) and suicide (hazard ratio= 0.73, 95% CI=0.29-1.80) between the two groups was not observed. Those who used EPI services also had lower rates of emergency department presentation (hazard ratio=0.71, 95% CI=0.60-0.83) but higher rates of hospitalization (hazard ratio=1.42, 95% CI=1.18-1.71). These benefits were not observed after 2 years, when EPI care is typically stepped down to medical management. Conclusions: People with first-episode psychosis who used EPI services had mortality rates that were four times lower thanthosewithfirst-episode psychosis whodidnot use these services,aswellasbetteroutcomesacrossseveralhealthcare systemindicators. Thesefindingssupporttheeffectiveness of EPIservicesforthe treatmentoffirst-episodepsychosisinthe larger context of the overall health care system.