Project 171638

People with a first episode of psychosis exhibit substantial heterogeneity with respect to severity and course over time. In the summer of 2004 and following the award of a CIHR operating grant we initiated a large longitudinal study on neurocognitive and neuroimaging markers of clinical outcome following a first episode of psychosis. The first objective of this study was to characterize from clinical, neurocognitive, and neuroimaging perspectives this cohort of patients at the time of initial presentation. A second objective consisted in the exploration of the predictive value of neurocognitive and neuroimaging measures in determining short-term response to treatment. Response to treatment is only the first step in the journey towards remission and eventual recovery or lack thereof. Therefore, as part of this renewal we propose to pursue this unique longitudinal study involving an already well characterized large FEP patient cohort for understanding predictors of variations in remission and functional recovery. We propose to focus our effort on markers of remission at 1 and 2 years. Considering that we have an extremely well characterized FEP that has been followed already for a significant portion of time, we will extend our follow up by adding a new time point 4 years post baseline. Identifying the early neurocognitive and neuroimaging markers of full remission on the one hand and the progressive changes that may occur over time in non-remitted patients following a first episode of psychosis may facilitate early identification of patients with poor prognosis and provide data for future development of different biological and psychosocial treatment approaches in the early course of the illness.

longitudinal study of neurocognitive and neuroimaging markers of remission in first episode psychosis