Schizophrenia for "Life" - a Registry and Interview Study Among Elderly With Lifelong Schizophrenia

The elderly demographic is on the rise - and this includes elderly living with schizophrenia. Yet very little is known about their lives, how they cope with their condition and how it develops over time.

Research in this patient-group is sparse; overall there seem to be a tendency for elderly patients to manifest fewer psychotic symptoms and experiencing an increase in the psychological quality of life with older age. Opinions are divided on the degree and extent to which this tendency reflects remission and/or recovery in older patients.

In order to identify factors associated with a positive outcome we:

• Investigate the course and the outcomes of the illness over the lifespan, as well as the life course and outcomes.
• Investigate the current status of mental and physical health, quality of life as well as functional competence of elderly (55+ yr) with schizophrenia.

Also the investigators

- Compare the trajectory and prognosis of schizophrenia (a chronic mental illness) with type 1 diabetes (a chronic somatic illness).

This study will yield vital insights into how schizophrenia develops over time, isolating factors that determine how well patients fare. The perspective is to advance knowledge of elderly with schizophrenia with a view to optimizing and increasing the effectiveness of the interventions offered to this group.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Schizophrenia

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 10404

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Denmark
  • Odense C, Denmark, 5000
    • Research Unit of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Unit Odense - University function

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 55 years to 95 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Registry study: A nationwide register cohort study (1970-79) identifying psychiatric admissions (aged 18-40), who were registered with a schizophrenia diagnosis. Several Danish registers are applied.

Interview study: A cross-sectional survey where 150 randomly drawn surviving members of the register cohort resident in the Region of Southern Denmark will be interviewed on the basis of internationally validated assessment tools.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Initial schizophrenia diagnosis between the ages 18-40 (both incl) in the period 1970-1979 (both incl) Interview study: Residence in Region of Southern Denmark

Exclusion Criteria:

Interview study: Mental retardation

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Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Ageing with schizophrenia	Prognosis measured by use of healthcare system, use of medicine, co-morbidity, mortality, causes of mortality, and socio-demographic data, including highest level of education, years of employment/un-employment, use of health- and welfare services.	up to 45 years

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Quality of life	Questionnaire	1 month
Remission	Questionnaire	6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Kjeld Andersen
• Collaborators: University of Southern Denmark; Region of Southern Denmark; Odense Patient Data Explorative Network; The Danish Mental Health Foundation; The Psychiatric Research Foundation in Southern Denmark; The Danish Health Foundation (Helsefonden); The non-profit foundation Trygfonden.; Jeppe Juhl and Ovita Juhls Memorial Grant; Butcher Max Wørzner and wife Inger Wørzner's Memorial Grant
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Maria Brink, MD, University of Southern Denmark

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: September 1, 2013
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 1, 2015
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 17, 2014
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 19, 2014
• First Posted (Estimate): September 22, 2014

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): July 17, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: July 16, 2018
• Last Verified: July 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: quality of life; elderly; schizophrenia; register; lifelong; questionaire
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders; Schizophrenia
• Other Study ID Numbers: Schizophrenia-Lifelong