Differences of affective and non-affective psychoses in early intervention services from Latin America

Psychosis presentation can be affected by genetic and environmental factors. Differentiating between affective and non-affective psychosis (A-FEP and NA-FEP, respectively) may influence treatment decisions and clinical outcomes. The objective of this paper is to examine differences between patients with A-FEP or NA-FEP in a Latin American sample. Patients from two cohorts of patients with a FEP recruited from Brazil and Chile. Subjects included were aged between 15 and 30 years, with an A-FEP or NA-FEP (schizophrenia-spectrum disorders) according to DSM-IV-TR. Sociodemographic data, duration of untreated psychosis and psychotic/mood symptoms were assessed. Generalized estimating equation models were used to assess clinical changes between baseline-follow-up according to diagnosis status. A total of 265 subjects were included. Most of the subjects were male (70.9 %), mean age was 21.36 years. A-FEP and NA-FEP groups were similar in almost all sociodemographic variables, but A-FEP patients had a higher probability of being female. At baseline, the A-FEP group had more manic symptoms and a steeper reduction in manic symptoms scores during the follow- up. The NA-FEP group had more negative symptoms at baseline and a higher improvement during follow-up. All domains of The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale improved for both groups. No difference for DUP and depression z-scores at baseline and follow-up. The sample was recruited at tertiary hospitals, which may bias the sample towards more severe cases. This is the largest cohort comparing A-FEP and NA-FEP in Latin America. We found that features in FEP patients could be used to improve diagnosis and support treatment decisions. •Affective and non-affective psychoses may be distinguished at the first episode.•Males are more likely to have a non-affective psychosis.•The affective group initially had more severe manic symptoms but also a greater improvement.•The non-affective group has more negative symptoms and a higher improvement in these symptoms.