Biomaterial Database

Vulnerability to delusions over time in schizophrenia and affective disorders. 1995

M Harrow, and A W MacDonald, and J R Sands, and M L Silverstein

Dept. of Psychiatry, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago 60612, USA.

This research used a prospective longitudinal design to study differences in vulnerability to delusions over time in 234 subjects with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar or unipolar affective disorder. Patients were assessed at three successive followups over a 7- to 8-year period. Over 60 percent of the schizophrenia and schizoaffective patients assessed experienced delusional activity at one of the three followups. Over 60 percent of the patients who initially had psychotic affective disorders also showed posthospital delusional activity. Significantly more schizophrenia patients than psychotic affective-disordered patients experienced consistent posthospital delusional activity at three successive followups. Unlike the schizophrenia subjects, affective patients showed a significant reduction in delusions after the first followup. After the initial acute psychotic episode that led to hospitalization, psychotic bipolar and unipolar affective patients showed a traitlike vulnerability to episodic delusional activity over time, but schizophrenia patients were vulnerable to more severe delusional activity and to more frequently recurring or sustained delusions. The study results question the views of several major theorists on the importance, persistance, and prognostic significance of delusions in schizophrenia.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008297	Male		Males
D010351	Patient Discharge	The administrative process of discharging the patient, alive or dead, from hospitals or other health facilities.	Discharge Planning,Discharge Plannings,Discharge, Patient,Discharges, Patient,Patient Discharges,Planning, Discharge,Plannings, Discharge
D010552	Personality Assessment	The determination and evaluation of personality attributes by interviews, observations, tests, or scales. Articles concerning personality measurement are considered to be within scope of this term.	Assessment, Personality,Assessments, Personality,Personality Assessments
D011446	Prospective Studies	Observation of a population for a sufficient number of persons over a sufficient number of years to generate incidence or mortality rates subsequent to the selection of the study group.	Prospective Study,Studies, Prospective,Study, Prospective
D011618	Psychotic Disorders	Disorders in which there is a loss of ego boundaries or a gross impairment in reality testing with delusions or prominent hallucinations. (From DSM-IV, 1994)	Psychoses,Psychosis, Brief Reactive,Schizoaffective Disorder,Schizophreniform Disorders,Psychosis,Brief Reactive Psychoses,Brief Reactive Psychosis,Disorder, Psychotic,Disorder, Schizoaffective,Disorder, Schizophreniform,Disorders, Psychotic,Disorders, Schizoaffective,Disorders, Schizophreniform,Psychoses, Brief Reactive,Psychotic Disorder,Reactive Psychoses, Brief,Reactive Psychosis, Brief,Schizoaffective Disorders,Schizophreniform Disorder
D003131	Combined Modality Therapy	The treatment of a disease or condition by several different means simultaneously or sequentially. Chemoimmunotherapy, RADIOIMMUNOTHERAPY, chemoradiotherapy, cryochemotherapy, and SALVAGE THERAPY are seen most frequently, but their combinations with each other and surgery are also used.	Multimodal Treatment,Therapy, Combined Modality,Combined Modality Therapies,Modality Therapies, Combined,Modality Therapy, Combined,Multimodal Treatments,Therapies, Combined Modality,Treatment, Multimodal,Treatments, Multimodal
D003702	Delusions	A false belief regarding the self or persons or objects outside the self that persists despite the facts, and is not considered tenable by one's associates.	Delusion
D005260	Female		Females
D005500	Follow-Up Studies	Studies in which individuals or populations are followed to assess the outcome of exposures, procedures, or effects of a characteristic, e.g., occurrence of disease.	Followup Studies,Follow Up Studies,Follow-Up Study,Followup Study,Studies, Follow-Up,Studies, Followup,Study, Follow-Up,Study, Followup
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man