Gender differences in the prediction of 5-year outcome in first episode psychosis

Objective: To examine gender differences in prediction of long-term outcome in first episode psychosis (FEP). Method: Eighty-one male and 72 female FEP patients were compared regarding the sensitivity and specificity of the Predictive Rating Scale (PRS). The contributions of pre-admission clinical and socio-demographic characteristics to a poor 5-year outcome were analysed for males and females separately. Gender differences in the relations between predictors and outcome were examined using the equality of correlation comparing correlation coefficients. Results: The sensitivity of the PRS was significantly better for males than for females. The following items: 'the highest Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) the year before first admission <= 70' and 'GAF at first admission <= 30' explained most of the variance of a poor 5-year outcome for males, whereas for females the corresponding items were 'the highest educational level is compulsory school', 'living with parents' and 'contact with friends <= 2-3 times/month'. When the PRS was adapted assigning a weight of two to the item 'the highest educational level is compulsory school' for females, the sensitivity increased. Conclusion: This study revealed that the predictors for poor outcome differ between male and female patients with FEP. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.