[Duration of untreated psychosis in first-episode schizophrenia: clinical and cognitive correlates].

OBJECTIVE

Duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) is associated with poor premorbid functioning and poor outcome in patients with schizophrenia. The authors determined whether the duration of untreated psychosis was associated with severity of clinical symptoms and neurocognitive functioning in patients with first-episode schizophrenia.

METHOD

A total of 30 first-episode patients were evaluated by means of WCST, Vocabulary, Arithmetic, Block Design, attention and verbal fluency tests.

RESULTS

The mean duration of untreated psychosis was 31.3 weeks. The group was divided on the basis of median duration of untreated psychosis (10 weeks) to short and long DUP group. There were no significant differences between the groups in results of clinical symptoms and neurocognitive functioning. There were no correlations between severity of clinical symptoms and neurocognitive functioning with duration of untreated psychosis.

CONCLUSIONS

In the group of patients with first-episode schizophrenia, the duration of untreated psychosis is not associated with severity of clinical symptoms and neurocognitive functioning.