Objectives: Schizophrenia is a disorder with different clinical features. Schizophrenia may start insidiously and slow and go on for many years. But the negative symptoms and deficiency symptoms leading to social deterioration may come to the forefront. All these factors are taken into consideration, our aim in this study was to examine the demographic and clinical effects of symptoms on schizophrenic patients who have not yet been treated. Methods: Eighty patients who were admitted to the Ankara Numune Training and Research Hospital Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic, who did not have any previous antipsychotic medications and who did not use medications at the time of admission and who met the criteria for schizophrenia according to the DSM-5. Sociodemografic Data Form and the PANSS scale were used to assess the clinical status of the patients. Results: When the demographic characteristics of the participants were examined, 33 (41.2%) were female and 47 (58.8%) were male. The mean age of the patients was 31.08±9.37; mean education year was 8.76±3.53. When the patients participating in the study were evaluated in terms of gender, marital status, working status, smoking status, and family history, no statistical differences were found between the groups in terms of their PANSS scores (p>0.05). However, the PANSS Negative subscale scores (p<.001), general psychopathology scores (p=0.006), and total PANSS scores (p=0.003) were statistically significantly different between the three groups when the patients were untreated for 0-1 years, 1-5 years, and 5 years. Conclusions: In this study none of the sociodemographic factors we assessed had any effect on symptom severity. However, there are different results in the literature regarding gender, age, marital status and working status. Besides, it has been determined that the most important clinical manifestation in our study is the period without treatment. Further studies should identify demographic and clinical features that affect schizophrenic symptom changes.
Objective: The aim of this study was to learn the current and former treatment regimens of
patients with schizophrenia, and to examine the suitability of treatment period to international
treatment guidelines.
Methods: This naturalistic and retrospective study included 315 cases who applied to the
psychiatry clinic and met the diagnosis criteria for schizophrenia according to the DSM-5.
The severity of disease was evaluated with the Positive and Negative Syndrome
Scale(PANSS) and the Clinical Global Impressions Scale(CGI). The current and former
treatment approaches were examined according to the recommendations of international
treatment guidelines(NICE, APA, TMAP).
Results: Considering the current treatments of the patients, the rate of antipsychotic
monotherapy was 69.5%, the usage rate of long-acting antipsychotic was 41.9% and the rate
of clozapine treatment was 11.4%. Of the patients with sufficient information about their
history of treatment, 70.62% were found to have treatment approaches compatible with
international treatment guidelines. It was found that CGI, PANSS negative and PANSS total
scores of those with a treatment regime compatible with the treatment algorithm were
significantly lower.
Conclusion: It is necessary to have sufficient information about the medical history of
patients to plan a rational, safe and effective treatment compatible with the treatment
guidelines. Regular patient follow-up in a certain center significantly contributes to learning
the necessary patient data. It was found in the evaluations that treatment approaches
compatible with the guidelines have a positive effect on the severity of disease.
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