Clinical Characteristics Associated with Functioning Trajectories Following Admission to a Psychiatric Institution: a Prospective Cohort Study of Individuals with Psychosis

Psychotic disorders can be severely enabling, and functional recovery is often difficult to achieve. Admission to a psychiatric unit represents a key opportunity to implement strategies that will improve functional outcomes. In the current literature, there is a lack of consensus on which factors influence functional recovery. Therefore, the present longitudinal cohort study aimed to identify factors associated with functional trajectories following hospital admission for acute psychosis. A sample of 453 individuals with acute psychosis was extracted from the Signature Biobank database. Participants were followed for up to a year following admission. Various clinical indicators were documented over time. Functional trajectories were calculated based on the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0. Three groups were identified: "improving", "stable", and "worsening" function. Individuals with a more severe symptomatic presentation at baseline were found to have better functional improve more over time. Over time, individuals in the "improving" and "stable" groups had significant improvements in their psychiatric symptoms. Finally, individuals following a "worsening" functional trajectory initially improved in terms of psychotic symptoms, but it did not persist over time. These results highlight the importance of studying function as a key component of recovery rather than solely focusing on relapse prevention.