Evaluation of early and very early onset schizophrenic disorder cases in a child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit

INTRODUCTION: Early-onset and very early-onset schizophrenia is a chronic disorder characterized by symptoms of thought, perception, emotion, movement, and behavior that started before the age of 18. The aim of this study was to determine the sociodemographic characteristics and treatment modalities of early-onset and very early-onset schizophrenic disorder cases treated in a child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit as well as the level of improvement of the cases. METHODS: A single-center, retrospective, descriptive study included 44 patients who were hospitalized in a child and adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit between October 2005 and January 2019. Sociodemographic data, treatment and symptom severity, and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), as well as the The Children's Global Assessment Scale-(CGAS) were evaluated in the study. RESULTS: The PANSS scores on discharge showed a significant decrease compared to admission PANSS scores and it was found that the patients who were hospitalized with the diagnosis of early-onset and very early-onset schizophrenic disorder had benefit from the inpatient treatment. In addition, the CGAS scores of patients during discharge increased significantly compared to admission CGAS scores. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Multidisciplinary treatment in children and adolescent psychiatric inpatient unit was found to be effective in the treatment of patients with early-onset and very early-onset schizophrenic disorder.