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. 2024 Feb;69(2):79-88.
doi: 10.1177/07067437231195959. Epub 2023 Aug 22.

Factors Associated with Transition to Serious Mental Illness

Sara Jalali  1 , Lu Liu  1 , JianLi Wang  2   3 , Sidney H Kennedy  4   5   6   7   8 , Glenda MacQueen  1 , Catherine Lebel  1   9   10   11 , Benjamin L Goldstein  12   13 , Signe Bray  1   9   10   11 , Jean Addington  1
Affiliations

Factors Associated with Transition to Serious Mental Illness

Sara Jalali et al. Can J Psychiatry. 2024 Feb.

Abstract
in English, French

Objective: There is increasing interest in early intervention and detection strategies for youth at-risk of developing a serious mental illness (SMI). Little is known about early factors that may be related to the later development of a SMI; thus, the aim of this study was to determine what clinical factors might relate to the development of in this study psychosis, bipolar disorder and severe or recurrent major depression in at-risk youth.

Method: The sample consisted of 162 youth aged 12-26 years at different stages of risk. Thirty-one participants developed a SMI during the study. Those who made a transition were compared on a range of baseline clinical and functional measures with those who did not make the transition. A Cox regression model was used to assess the association between measures and later development of a SMI.

Results: Female sex, attenuated psychotic symptoms as assessed with the Scale of Psychosis-Risk Symptoms (SOPS) and ratings on the K-10 Distress Scale, were found to be significantly associated with the later transition to mental illness. Females were 2.77 times more likely to transition compared to males. For the SOPS and K-10 scales, there is a 14% increase in the transition rate relative to a one-scale increase in SOPS and a 7% increase in the transition rate relative to a one-point increase in the K-10.

Conclusions: Results from these longitudinal data provide further insight into the specific clinical measures that may be pertinent in early detection of mental illnesses.

Objectif: Il y a un intérêt grandissant pour l’intervention précoce et les stratégies de détection des jeunes à risque de développer une maladie mentale grave (MMG). Nous en savons peu sur les facteurs précoces qui peuvent être liés au développement ultérieur d’une MMG ; ainsi le but de la présente étude était de déterminer quels facteurs cliniques pouvaient être liés au développement, dans cette étude, de la psychose, du trouble bipolaire, et de la dépression majeure grave et récurrente chez les jeunes à risque.

Méthode: L’échantillon consistait en 162 jeunes de 12 à 26 ans à différents stades de risque. Trente et un participants ont développé une MMG durant l’étude. Ceux qui ont fait une transition étaient comparés dans une série de mesures cliniques et fonctionnelles à la base avec ceux qui n’ont pas fait la transition. Un modèle de régression de Cox a servi à évaluer l’association entre les mesures et le développement ultérieur d’une MMG.

Résultats: Le sexe féminin, les symptômes psychotiques atténués tels qu’évalués par l’Échelle des symptômes de risque de psychose (ESRP) et des notes sur l’échelle de détresse K-10 ont été constatés être associés significativement à la transition ultérieure à la maladie mentale. Les femmes étaient 2,77 fois plus susceptibles de faire la transition que les hommes. Pour les échelles ESRP et K-10, il y a une augmentation de 14 % du taux de transition par rapport à une augmentation d'une échelle dans les ESRP, et une hausse de 7 % du taux de transition relatif à une augmentation d’un point dans le K-10.

Keywords: clinical staging; transition to serious mental illness; youth mental health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Kaplan–Meier survival estimate of the probability of non-transition.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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