#2014 opus one time trial trial

After 1 and 2 years of intervention, the OPUS treatment produced significant positive effects on primary outcome measures-psychotic symptoms (hallucinations, delusions, and thought disorders) and negative symptoms (anhedonia, avolition, affective blunting, and alogia)-and on secondary such as substance abuse, treatment adherence, lower dosage of antipsychotic medication, higher satisfaction with treatment, and reduced burden to the family. Comprehensive follow-up interviews were conducted 1, 2, and 5 years after randomization. 14 The intensive early intervention program consisted of modified ACT, psychoeducational family intervention, and social skills training.

#2014 opus one time trial trial

The OPUS trial was the first and to date largest randomized clinical trial of a specialized assertive early intervention program (OPUS treatment) vs treatment as usual (TAU, Community Mental Health Centers) for young people experiencing their first episode of nonaffective psychosis (FEP). 13 This has led to a wave of early intervention services in Canada, Australia, and in Europe. It has been suggested that the long-term course of illness can be influenced during a critical period of 5 years after the onset of the illness. However, the studies which have followed the patients over longer periods of time indicate that some of the effects disappear when the treatment ends. The positive effects of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT), 5 psychoeducational family intervention, 6–8 and social skills training 9, 10 for chronic patient populations with psychosis are well documented-as long as the treatment is active. The reasons for this substantial cost are that schizophrenia has a typical onset in early adult life and while some people will recover, many will experience persisting difficulties or remain vulnerable to future episodes. 2 This cost is similar to that of cancer or ischemic heart disease. 1 The direct cost of schizophrenia sums up to about 2% of the national health expenditure in several European countries. Based on a Danish register-based study, we estimated the incidence rate of schizophrenia among 15- to 34-year-olds to be approximately 37 per 100 000 person-years. Psychotic disorders in the schizophrenia spectrum are serious illnesses with potentially devastating consequences for patients and their families and high costs for society. There is a need for further studies investigating if extending the intervention will improve outcomes more markedly at long-term follow-ups. We observed a clear tendency that OPUS treatment leads to fewer days in supported housing.

Conclusion: Most of the positive short-term effects of the OPUS intervention had diminished or vanished at this long-term follow-up. There were no differences between OPUS and TAU regarding income, work-related outcomes, or marital status.

Statistically significant differences in the course of use of supported housing were present even after 8–10 years. While there was evidence of a differential 10-year course in the development of negative symptoms, psychiatric bed days, and possibly psychotic symptoms in favor of OPUS treatment, differences were driven by effects at earlier follow-ups and had diminished over time. Results : Of the 547 participants included in the study, 347 (63.4%) took part in this follow-up. We analyzed participants according to the intention-to-treat principle. Ten years later, we conducted comprehensive interviews and performed register-based follow-up on all participants in national Danish registers.

Methods : From 1998 to 2000, participants were randomized to OPUS or TAU. Aim : To examine the effect of 2 years of OPUS vs treatment as usual (TAU) within an FEP cohort, 10 years after inclusion into the OPUS trial. Few studies have examined long-term outcomes of these interventions. Introduction : Specialized early intervention programs such as The Danish OPUS treatment are efficient in treating patients with a first episode of psychosis (FEP) at least after 2 and 5 years.