STEP-ED: Reducing Duration of Untreated Psychosis and Its Impact in the U.S.

Schizophrenia Clinical Trial

Official title:

STEP-ED: Reducing Duration of Untreated Psychosis and Its Impact in the U.S.

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02069925
• Other study ID #: 1310012846
• Secondary ID: 1R01MH103831-01
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: February 1, 2014
• Est. completion date: August 18, 2020

Study information

• Verified date: April 2022
• Source: Yale University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The guiding questions for this study are: can a U.S. adaptation of a successful Scandinavian approach (TIPS) to early detection substantially reduce the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) and improve outcomes beyond an established first-episode service (FES)?

The primary aim of this study is:

1. To determine whether an early detection intervention can reduce DUP in the US, as compared to usual detection. Early detection (ED) will be implemented in one US community (New Haven, CT), and usual detection efforts will continue in another (Boston, MA). DUP will be measured at admission to the corresponding first-episode services (STEP & PREP) in each community, over one year before and throughout ED implementation. The investigators hypothesize that DUP will be reduced significantly in the early detection site compared to the usual detection site;

2. A secondary aim is to determine whether DUP reduction can augment the outcomes of established FES on outcomes in the U.S. The investigators will measure symptoms, functioning and engagement with treatment at entry and over 1 year at each site. The investigators hypothesize that shorter DUP at one FES (STEP) will predict reduced distress and illness severity at entry and better early outcomes at STEP compared to PREP.

Description:

Early detection, or reducing the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) can substantially ameliorate the distress and disability caused by psychotic illnesses. The TIPS project in Scandinavia used a combination of public and targeted education campaigns coupled with rapid availability of comprehensive services to improve the identification, referral and early treatment of psychotic illness. By targeting the dual 'bottlenecks' of inadequate mental health literacy and delayed access to effective treatment, TIPS significantly reduced DUP2 and experimentally demonstrated improved clinical presentations and outcomes.

Effective service models for new onset psychosis exist in the U.S. Multi-element specialty 'first-episode' services (FES), highlighted in this FOA, provide care that is adapted to the specific needs of younger patients and their families and can improve symptoms and functional outcomes during the critical early phase of psychotic illnesses. The NIH-funded Specialized Treatment in Early Psychosis (STEP, New Haven) project, included the first U.S.-based randomized controlled trial to establish the feasibility and effectiveness of a public-sector approach to FES.5 The Prevention and Recovery in Early Psychosis (PREP, Boston) clinic has advanced a similar model of care within an analogous public-academic collaboration.

What is required, as the next logical step, is a test of the effectiveness of TIPS' powerful approach to early detection in a policy-relevant U.S. setting, where relatively fragmented pathways to care raise both the challenges and potential public health impact of early detection. The expertise within the investigators investigative team in the design of early detection and the presence of 2 similar, effective, geographically separated and collaborative FES programs (STEP and PREP) presents an excellent opportunity to conduct such a test and thereby advance secondary prevention for psychotic illnesses in the U.S.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 285
• Est. completion date: August 18, 2020
• Est. primary completion date: February 27, 2020
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 16 Years to 35 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• 16 to 35 years old,

• Within first 3 years of psychosis onset (per pre-defined SOS threshold criteria)

• Willing travel to local First Episode Service (STEP, New Haven or PREP, Boston) for treatment;

• Must live in target catchment towns for New Haven site (New Haven, East Haven, West Haven, North Haven, Hamden, Bethany, Orange, Woodbridge, Milford, and Branford) and Boston site (anywhere in Commonwealth of MA)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Established diagnosis of affective psychotic illness (Bipolar disorder or MDD with psychotic features) or psychosis secondary to substance use or a medical illness

• Unable to communicate in English

• IQ<70 or eligible for DDS (Department of Developmental Services) care

• legally mandated to enter treatment or otherwise unable to give free, informed consent

• Unable to reliably determine DUP

• Unstable medical illness

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Mental Disorders
• Psychosis
• Psychotic Disorders
• Schizophrenia

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Early Detection (ED)
This intervention consists of educational campaigns directed at patients & families (who have yet to seek care) and professionals in educational and clinical settings to hasten referral of individuals with new onset psychosis to an established, best-practice first-episode service (i.e. STEP). Interleaved with this educational campaign will be procedures to make the STEP clinic more rapidly responsive to referrals to further shorten the duration of untreated psychosis
• Usual Detection
This intervention will provide equivalent best practice care without the benefit of an early detection campaign

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
United States	Massachusetts Mental Health Center	Boston	Massachusetts
United States	Yale University	New Haven	Connecticut

Sponsors (3)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Yale University	Harvard University, National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Country where clinical trial is conducted

United States, 

References & Publications (20)

Annamalai A, Palmese LB, Chwastiak LA, Srihari VH, Tek C. High rates of obstructive sleep apnea symptoms among patients with schizophrenia. Psychosomatics. 2015 Jan-Feb;56(1):59-66. doi: 10.1016/j.psym.2014.02.009. Epub 2014 Mar 2. — View Citation

Breitborde NJ, Kleinlein P, Srihari VH. Causality Orientations among Individuals with First-Episode Psychosis. Psychosis. 2014 Jun 1;6(2):177-180. — View Citation

Dixon LB, Goldman HH, Srihari VH, Kane JM. Transforming the Treatment of Schizophrenia in the United States: The RAISE Initiative. Annu Rev Clin Psychol. 2018 May 7;14:237-258. doi: 10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-050817-084934. Epub 2018 Jan 12. — View Citation

Foss-Feig JH, Adkinson BD, Ji JL, Yang G, Srihari VH, McPartland JC, Krystal JH, Murray JD, Anticevic A. Searching for Cross-Diagnostic Convergence: Neural Mechanisms Governing Excitation and Inhibition Balance in Schizophrenia and Autism Spectrum Disorders. Biol Psychiatry. 2017 May 15;81(10):848-861. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.03.005. Epub 2017 Mar 14. Review. — View Citation

Guloksuz S, Li F, Tek C, Woods SW, McGlashan TH, Friis S, Srihari VH. Analyzing the Duration of Untreated Psychosis: Quantile Regression. JAMA Psychiatry. 2016 Oct 1;73(10):1094-1095. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2016.2013. — View Citation

Hay RA, Roach BJ, Srihari VH, Woods SW, Ford JM, Mathalon DH. Equivalent mismatch negativity deficits across deviant types in early illness schizophrenia-spectrum patients. Biol Psychol. 2015 Feb;105:130-7. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2015.01.004. Epub 2015 Jan 17. — View Citation

Kline E, Hendel V, Friedman-Yakoobian M, Mesholam-Gately RI, Findeisen A, Zimmet S, Wojcik JD, Petryshen TL, Woo TW, Goldstein JM, Shenton ME, Keshavan MS, McCarley RW, Seidman LJ. A comparison of neurocognition and functioning in first episode psychosis populations: do research samples reflect the real world? Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 2019 Mar;54(3):291-301. doi: 10.1007/s00127-018-1631-x. Epub 2018 Nov 28. — View Citation

Kline E, Thomas L. Cultural factors in first episode psychosis treatment engagement. Schizophr Res. 2018 May;195:74-75. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2017.08.035. Epub 2017 Aug 30. — View Citation

Kline ER, DeTore NR, Keefe K, Seidman LJ, Srihari VH, Keshavan MS, Guyer M. Development and validation of the client engagement and service use scale: A pilot study. Schizophr Res. 2018 Nov;201:343-346. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2018.05.006. — View Citation

Mathis WS, Woods S, Srihari V. Blind Spots: Spatial analytics can identify nonrandom geographic variation in first episode psychosis program enrollments. Early Interv Psychiatry. 2018 Dec;12(6):1229-1234. doi: 10.1111/eip.12681. Epub 2018 Jun 21. — View Citation

Perez VB, Woods SW, Roach BJ, Ford JM, McGlashan TH, Srihari VH, Mathalon DH. Automatic auditory processing deficits in schizophrenia and clinical high-risk patients: forecasting psychosis risk with mismatch negativity. Biol Psychiatry. 2014 Mar 15;75(6):459-69. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2013.07.038. Epub 2013 Sep 16. — View Citation

Srihari VH, Jani A, Gray M. Early Intervention for Psychotic Disorders: Building Population Health Systems. JAMA Psychiatry. 2016 Feb;73(2):101-2. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2015.2821. Review. — View Citation

Srihari VH, Tek C, Pollard J, Zimmet S, Keat J, Cahill JD, Kucukgoncu S, Walsh BC, Li F, Gueorguieva R, Levine N, Mesholam-Gately RI, Friedman-Yakoobian M, Seidman LJ, Keshavan MS, McGlashan TH, Woods SW. Reducing the duration of untreated psychosis and its impact in the U.S.: the STEP-ED study. BMC Psychiatry. 2014 Dec 4;14:335. doi: 10.1186/s12888-014-0335-3. — View Citation

Srihari VH. Working toward changing the Duration of Untreated Psychosis (DUP). Schizophr Res. 2018 Mar;193:39-40. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2017.07.045. Epub 2017 Aug 3. — View Citation

Starc M, Murray JD, Santamauro N, Savic A, Diehl C, Cho YT, Srihari V, Morgan PT, Krystal JH, Wang XJ, Repovs G, Anticevic A. Schizophrenia is associated with a pattern of spatial working memory deficits consistent with cortical disinhibition. Schizophr Res. 2017 Mar;181:107-116. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2016.10.011. Epub 2016 Oct 10. — View Citation

Steiner JL, Anez-Nava L, Baranoski M, Cole R, Davidson L, Delphin-Rittmon M, Dike C, DiLeo PJ, Duman RS, Kirk T Jr, Krystal J, Malison RT, Rohrbaugh RM, Sernyak MJ, Srihari V, Styron T, Tebes JK, Woods S, Zonana H, Jacobs SC. The Connecticut Mental Health Center: Celebrating 50 Years of a Successful Partnership Between the State and Yale University. Psychiatr Serv. 2016 Dec 1;67(12):1286-1289. Epub 2016 Oct 3. — View Citation

Tek C, Kucukgoncu S, Guloksuz S, Woods SW, Srihari VH, Annamalai A. Antipsychotic-induced weight gain in first-episode psychosis patients: a meta-analysis of differential effects of antipsychotic medications. Early Interv Psychiatry. 2016 Jun;10(3):193-202. doi: 10.1111/eip.12251. Epub 2015 May 12. Review. — View Citation

Tek C, Palmese LB, Krystal AD, Srihari VH, DeGeorge PC, Reutenauer EL, Guloksuz S. The impact of eszopiclone on sleep and cognition in patients with schizophrenia and insomnia: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Schizophr Res. 2014 Dec;160(1-3):180-5. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2014.10.002. Epub 2014 Oct 29. — View Citation

van Schalkwyk GI, Davidson L, Srihari V. Too Late and Too Little: Narratives of Treatment Disconnect in Early Psychosis. Psychiatr Q. 2015 Dec;86(4):521-32. doi: 10.1007/s11126-015-9348-4. — View Citation

Wasser T, Pollard J, Fisk D, Srihari V. First-Episode Psychosis and the Criminal Justice System: Using a Sequential Intercept Framework to Highlight Risks and Opportunities. Psychiatr Serv. 2017 Oct 1;68(10):994-996. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201700313. Epub 2017 Sep 1. Review. — View Citation

* Note: There are 20 references in all — Click here to view all references

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Other	Change in improved labor market / workforce participation and healthcare utilization	A trained assessor will administer the Services Utilization and Resources Form for Schizophrenia (SURF) instrument to assess workforce participation and other measures relevant to healthcare utilization. The SURF is a multi-item form that uses participants' or caregivers' report to document comprehensively the number, type, and duration of health services and consumption of non-health resources, such as criminal justice events and public assistance	6 months and 12 months
Primary	Duration of Untreated Psychosis (DUP)	Time from onset of psychosis to first antipsychotic (DUP-Demand); Time from first antipsychotic to enrollment in STEP/PREP (DUP-Supply); Time from onset of psychosis to enrollment in STEP/PREP (DUP-Total)	One year before, during campaign and one year after end of campaign
Secondary	Levels of social and occupational functioning	A trained assessor will administer the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) scale to every subject for levels of social and occupational functioning. The PANSS is a medical scale used for measuring symptom severity of participants with schizophrenia. The PANSS rating form contains 7 positive symptom scales, 7 negative system scales, and 16 general psychopathology symptom scales. Participants are rated from 1 to 7 on each symptom scale. The total score is the sum of all scales with a minimum score of 30 and a maximum score of 210.	1 year after enrollment in STEP/PREP
Secondary	Change in levels of social and occupational functioning- social	The Global Functioning: Social scale will be used, with symptoms rated 1 (most impaired) to 10 (superior functioning).	6 months and 12 months
Secondary	Change in levels of social and occupational functioning- roles	The Global Functioning: Role scale will be used, with symptoms rated 1 (most impaired) to 10 (superior functioning).	6 months and 12 months