Effect of early intervention on 5-year outcome in non-affective psychosis

Background: Early specialised care may improve short-term outcome in first-episode non-affective psychosis, but it is unclear if these benefits endure. Aims: To assess the long-term effect of early intervention in psychosis. Method: Individuals with first-episode psychosis were randomised to specialised care or care as usual (trial number: ISRCTN73679874). Outcome after 5 years was assessed by case-note review. Results: There were no significant differences in the admission rate (coefficient 0.096, 95% CI -0.550 to 0.742, P = 0.770) or the mean number of bed days (coefficient 6.344, 95% CI -46 to 58.7, P = 0.810). Conclusions: These findings that specialist intervention did not markedly improved outcome at 5 years accord with those from a larger OPUS study. The sample size of this study was small and these results should be generalised with caution. More research is needed.