Prevalence and clinicians’ awareness of psychiatric comorbidities among first–episode schizophrenia

Background To explore the prevalence and clinicians’ awareness of psychiatric comorbidities, and to identify factors associated with current psychiatric comorbidities in first–episode schizophrenia (FES) patients. Method In this cross–sectional study, 128 patients with FES, who were in symptomatic remission, were consecutively recruited from a local early intervention clinic. All patients were interviewed using the Chinese bilingual version of the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, Axis I Disorders, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scales, Scale to Assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder, Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale, Simpson–Angus Scale, Barnes Akathisia Rating Scale and Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to investigate factors associated with psychiatric comorbidities in FES patients. Results The lifetime and point prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities among FES patients were 47.7% and 27.3%, respectively. Current psychiatric comorbidities were documented on the medical records of 39.3% of the patients. The FES patients with current psychiatric comorbidities had a lower level of functioning. Depression in FES was also associated with akathisia. Conclusion Psychiatric comorbidities are prevalent among community FES patients. In addition to achieving symptomatic remission in schizophrenia, both treating psychiatric comorbidities and minimizing the side–effects of treatment, particularly akathisia, are fundamental for supporting FES patients in their journey to recovery.