Factors Associated with Relapse in First Episode Psychosis

Objective : To review the associated factors of relapse in patients with first episode psychosis (FEP). Method : PubMed, PsycINFO, ClinicalTrials.gov, Google scholar and other medical databases for English-language articles published between 1998-2015 were searched, using associated factors, factors related to, first episode psychosis and relapse as keywords. There were 19 original articles and 5 systematic reviews found. Results : There were many associated factors with relapse in FEP. However, in this review, we found that medication non adherence and persistent substance use including nicotine use were associated with relapse. Age of onset of patients with FEP was one of the factors. Most of the studies reported that younger age of onset and older ages without caregivers were associated with relapse. The shorter duration of admission than average duration of hospital stay was also found to be an associated factors of relapse. Conclusion : Medication non adherence, persistent substance use, age of onset and duration of hospital stay were factors associated with relapse in FEP in this review. There should be studies of clinical presentation and premorbid functioning and supporting system to identify the risk factors of relapse in FEP in the future.