Active clinical trials for "Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders"

Nicotine dependence is very common among individuals with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. Cotinine is a chemical that is made by the body from nicotine. Measuring levels of nicotine and cotinine is an accurate way to determine how much cigarette smoke enters a person's body. The purpose of this study is to measure nicotine and cotinine levels in smokers with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder to determine if such individuals absorb more nicotine per cigarette than smokers without schizophrenia-related disorders.

The aim of the present cohort retrospective study is to explore the effect of antipsychotics on periodontal health and the possible effect of antipsychotic-induced hyperprolactinemia as a risk factor for periodontal disease progression in schizophrenic patients. The study population consisted of three groups: Group A (n = 21): schizophrenic patients who have been taking "prolactin inducing" antipsychotics for at least 1 year, Group B (n = 21): schizophrenic patients who have been taking "prolactin sparing" antipsychotics for at least 1 year and Group C (n = 22): newly diagnosed schizophrenic patients and/or patients who did not receive any psychiatric treatment for at least 1 year. The study groups underwent an assessment of periodontal condition in terms of pocket depth (PD), clinical attachment loss (CAL), gingival recession, tooth mobility, and bleeding on probing (BOP). Also, bone mineral density was evaluated using DEXA scans and the serum prolactin level was measured by automated immunoassay.

Medications like olanzapine have been associated with the development of weight gain and diabetes in some patients. It is not known if the increased risk of developing diabetes is a direct effect on insulin or simply related to weight gain. We hope to learn in this study whether or not olanzapine directly slows down insulin secretion from the pancreas, thereby increasing the risk of developing diabetes.

Cross-sectional observational study of the relationship between speech patterns and psychiatric symptoms and disorders.

During the 1990s, evidence began to emerge of the long duration of untreated illness prior to receiving treatment for patients with psychotic disorders. Studies across the world on first episode psychosis have consistently found an average of 1 - 2 years between the onset of psychotic symptoms and the start of treatment. Lengthy treatment delay has immediate implications such as unnecessary distress for patients and families, and may also compromise potential recovery when treatment is initiated.By understanding how and why substantial delays occur the investigators may be able to better design interventions to facilitate better earlier treatment. The components of DUP can be conceptualised as comprising 3 distinct intervals: help-seeking delay, referral delay and delay in mental health services. In this study the primary aim is to establish the level of DUP in nordland, and explore the components of this variable. Help-seeking delay will be investigated by interviewing patients presenting at the central mental health hospital in Nordland about their psychosis onset and pathways to care. Referral delay will be investigated by a questionnaire about the referral pratices among GPs in Nordland. Delays in mental health services will be investigated by focus group interviews with leaders and professionals at the 7 community mental health centers in Nordland. This knowledge is believed to be crucial for developing services that can reduce DUP and give this patient population earlier access to adequate treatment.

The objective of this study is to explore the longitudinal course of self-disturbances (SD) in schizophrenia. The main aim of the study is to investigate, in a 6-7-year follow-up of a representative sample of patients with first-episode schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and other psychoses. The overall aim is to expand our knowledge about the role of SDs in psychotic disorders. Increased knowledge here will aid diagnosis and treatment. The current study is a seven year follow-up of this representative cohort, with baseline measures of SDs and a comprehensive clinical and neurocognitive assessment battery.

A burgeoning body of research has pointed to increased efficacy of clozapine (CLZ) over other antipsychotics in schizophrenia (SCZ). On the other hand, safety concerns likely cause underutilization across a range of European and other nations. The lack of data available to predict efficacy and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) of CLZ further contributes to underprescription rates in these countries. Here, we hypothesize that (epi)genetic and non-genetic factors aid to help predict treatment outcome (efficacy + ADRs) to CLZ. We furthermore posit that such prediction will result in enhanced quality of life of both patients and family members. Our primary objective is to predict CLZ treatment outcome based on phenotypic and genetic data obtained through the current design. The first secondary objective is to investigate which methylation levels/patterns are correlated with CLZ treatment outcome. The second secondary objective is to aid in the further elucidation of the genetic architecture of SCZ and any possible differences between 'regular' SCZ patients and those on CLZ, who are generally more severely ill. We thus intend to cover two currently unmet needs using a precision medicine approach: the lack of knowledge about determinants of treatment response to CLZ and the lack of insight into neurobiological differences between 'regular' SCZ and relatively treatment resistant subjects (CLZ users). The prime analysis will be a common variant hypothesis-generating genotyping endeavor investigating treatment response to CLZ. Additional analyses include whole-genome methylation and gene expression analyses and analyses of non-genetic determinants of response. We will include 2,500 CLZ treated patients for our discovery cohort, which is in line with previous whole-genome pharmacogenomics studies and our power calculations. We will replicate any genome-wide loci using our prospectively collected cohort of new users (N=59). Potential yields include a publicly available prediction tool to help identify patients responsive to CLZ in early disease stages and prevent harmful effects. In addition, common variant analyses compounded by pathway analyses may help elucidate the mechanisms of action of CLZ. We ask for broad informed consent from participants ensuring rich, longitudinal phenotypic and genotypic data resources for both currently planned and future analyses, allowing e.g. next-generation sequencing focused on both CLZ and SCZ disease genetics (e.g. in large consortia). We plan to also generate polygenic risk scores (PRS) of CLZ efficacy and use those to identify other diseases or patients for which CLZ may be helpful, e.g. schizoaffective disorder patients who are sometimes first treated with mood stabilizers. Last, evidence hints that disparaging genetic loci influence efficacy to different antipsychotics. Adding genetic data from our cohort to existing datasets of response to other antipsychotics may help identify such loci. Finally, comparison studies with non-CLZ using patients suffering from SCZ may deepen the understanding of biological mechanisms underlying treatment resistance (or: a relatively severe course of illness).The results of this genetic part of the study will be combined with the results from our other research protocol 'Phenomics and genomic of clozapine pharmacotherapy - New Users'.The overarching goal of both projects is to create a prediction model for clozapine outcome (response (and side effects). This model includes genetic, epigenetic and clinical data.

The primary objective of this single-center multi-site retrospective chart review is to determine if paliperidone palmitate and/or risperidone long-acting injection can decrease the number of psychiatric relapses following their initiation in an inpatient acute psychiatric unit compared to oral antipsychotic therapy and determine if one treatment is superior to the other in this regard. This study will utilize a mirror-image design and incorporate up to a 3 years of follow-up following the index admission. Secondary objectives of this study will be to determine the change in hospital resource utilization for psychiatric reasons following treatment initiation, and to determine the difference in time to relapse.