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Identifying children and adolescents at ultra high risk of psychosis in Italian neuropsychiatry services: a feasibility study

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Abstract

The past 20 years have seen the evolution of the construct of a clinical high-risk (hereafter, HR) state for psychosis. This construct is designed to capture the pre-psychotic phase. Some aspects of this approach, such as its feasibility in children and adolescents, are still under investigation. In the present study, we address the feasibility of implementing prodrome clinics for HR individuals within the framework of Italy’s national child and adolescent neuropsychiatry services and the clinical relevance of a HR diagnosis in this population. Using the Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental States (CAARMS) to identify help-seeking patients meeting at least one HR criterion at baseline (HR+), we recruited 50 subjects for a feasibility study. The results obtained show that the Italian version of the CAARMS is easily administrable, causing patients no substantial discomfort. The prevalence of HR+ in our cohort was 44 %, which increased by an additional 18 % when negative symptoms were considered as an experimental inclusion criterion (HRNeg). The HR+ subjects were significantly more impaired in their social and occupational functioning than their HR− peers (subjects not at HR). The cumulative 1-year transition risk of psychosis of the HR+ group was 26.7 %. When the HRNeg group was added, the 1-year transition risk was 17.3 %. We suggest that administration of the CAARMS to children and adolescents with putative prodromal psychosis is feasible and that this assessment can easily be integrated into existing Italian neuropsychiatry services although clinicians should interpret results with caution as results in this age group still have to be replicated.

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Acknowledgments

The project was funded by Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standards

Our study was approved by the ethics committee of our institute and was therefore performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. All study participants gave their informed consent prior to their inclusion in the study. Details that might disclose the identity of the subjects under study were omitted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, London, UK

    Giulia Spada, P. McGuire & P. Fusar-Poli

  2. OASIS Prodromal Team, South London and the Maudsley (SLaM) NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK

    Giulia Spada, P. McGuire & P. Fusar-Poli

  3. Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Department of Brain and Behavioural Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy

    Giulia Spada, S. Molteni, C. Pistone & U. Balottin

  4. Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, C. Mondino National Neurological Institute, Pavia, Italy

    M. Chiappedi & U. Balottin

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  1. Giulia Spada
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  2. S. Molteni
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  3. C. Pistone
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  4. M. Chiappedi
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  6. P. Fusar-Poli
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Correspondence to Giulia Spada.

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Paolo Fusar-Poli and Umberto Balottin are joint last authors.

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Spada, G., Molteni, S., Pistone, C. et al. Identifying children and adolescents at ultra high risk of psychosis in Italian neuropsychiatry services: a feasibility study. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 25, 91–106 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-015-0710-8

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