Psychiatric Morbidity Survey Results from the longitudinal study of the British National Self-reported psychotic symptoms in the general population :

Background Scarcelongitudinaldataexistontheoccurrenceofpsychoticsymptomsinthegeneralpopulation.Aims To estimatetheincidence of, andriskfactorsfor,self-reportedpsychoticsymptomsinGreatBritain.Method Datafromthe18-monthfollow-upofanationalsurveywereused.Incidentcaseswerethosewhoendorsedoneormoreitemsonthe PsychosisoneormoreitemsonthePsychosisScreening Questionnaireatfollow-up, butnotatbaseline.Theassociationbetweenfactorsrecordedatbaselineandincidentself-reportedsymptomswasexamined.Results Atfollow-up,4.4% ofthegeneralpopulationreportedincidentpsychoticsymptoms.Sixfactorswereindependentlyassociatedwithincidentsymptoms:livinginaruralarea;havingasmallprimarysupportgroup; moreadverselifeevents;smokingtobacco;adverselifeevents; smokingtobacco;neurotic symptoms; andengaginginaharmfulpatternofdrinking.Conclusions AsmallbutnotinsignificantpercentageofthepopulationofGreatBritainreportedincidentpsychoticsymptomsover18months.Theriskfactorsforpsychoticsymptomsshowedsomesimilaritieswithriskfactorsforschizophrenia,buttherewerealsosome strikingdifferences.Therelationshipbetweensuchriskfactorsandthefactorsthatperpetuatepsychoticsymptomsremainstobeascertained.Declarationof interest None.Fundingdetailedin Acknowledgements.FundingdetailedinAcknowledgements.