Related factors of relapse based on positive and negative syndrome scale among schizophrenics in Shanghai communities

Objective To explore the relapse status based on the positive and negative syndrome scale （PANSS Scale） and related factors of schizophrenics in Shanghai communities， and to analyze the association between socio demographic characteristics， lifestyles， clinical characteristics and relapse.

Methods A dynamic cohort prospective study design was used in this study. From March 2018 to February 2019， a total of 189 schizophrenics in Xuhui， Hongkou， Changning， Jiading， Songjiang and Baoshan districts were enrolled successively. Baseline questionnaires were conducted through face-to-face interviews at baseline， which contained social demographic information， lifestyle information and clinical information. A follow-up was conducted every 2 weeks for a measurement of PANSS Scale for a total of 6 months. Relapse was assessed by a PANSS score increase of ≥25% from baseline （or an increase of 10 points or more if the baseline score was ≤40 points）. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression models were used to analyze the associations between relapse status （assessed by PANSS Scale） and socio demographic characteristics， lifestyles， and clinical characteristics， respectively.

Results A total of 165 community schizophrenics completed baseline and follow-up surveys， with a loss to follow-up rate of about 12.7%. After exclusion of sociodemographic and clinical information deficits， 132 patients were included in the analysis totally， with an average age of 48.18±12.67 years， among whom 41.67% were male. Totally 33 patients relapsed during the 6-month follow-up period， with a relapse rate of 25.0%. After adjusting for gender， family history， age， employment， education， marital status， smoking， drinking， exercise frequency， medication compliance， insight， social function， violence history， stress recent events， adverse drug reactions and baseline scores of PANSS Scale， risk factors of relapse included the following four factors： age below 40 years （HR=4.47， 95%CI： 1.15-17.40）， primary school or below （HR=7.11， 95%CI： 1.54-32.83）， unemployed （HR=8.34， 95%CI： 1.78-38.98）， and adverse drug reactions （HR=5.02， 95%CI： 1.75-14.37）.

Conclusion We should pay attention to the risk factors such as age， education， employment and adverse drug reactions， in order to identify high-risk patients and to conduct timely interventions during the relapse management of schizophrenics in Shanghai community.