Ajnakina O, et al. – This study was designed not only to identify the proportion of patients with a first episode of psychosis (FEP) who had first presented to prodromal services in the at risk mental state (ARMS) state but also to compare these FEP patients with FEP patients who did not have prior contact with prodromal services. In the current pathways to care configuration, prodromal services were likely to prevent only a few at–risk people from transitioning to psychosis even if effective preventative treatments become available.

Methods

• Between 2010 and 2012, information on three hundred thirty-eight patients aged ≤37 years who presented to mental health services with a FEP was analyzed.
• Finally, the data on pathways to care, clinical and socio-demographic characteristics were extracted from the Biomedical Research Council Case Register for the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.

Results

• More than 2 years, 14 (4.1% of n = 338) young adults presented with FEP and had been seen previously by the prodromal services.
• These ARMS patients will probably enter their pathway to psychiatric care via referral from General Practice, be born in the UK and to have had an insidious mode of illness onset than FEP patients without prior contact with the prodromal services.