Childhood medical history and psychosis in adult life: Findings from the Bologna EU-GEI incidence and case-control study

Abstract

Aim: To estimate the association between the inpatient admissions and Emergency Department (ED) visits before age of 18 years and adulthood-onset first-episode psychosis (FEP).

Methods: We conducted a FEP incidence and case-control study and calculated the odds ratios (ORs) for incident FEP associated with inpatient admissions and ED visits prior to age of 18 years, adjusting our results for cannabis use, parental socio-economic class and childhood trauma.

Results: In multivariate logistic regression analysis, odds of FEP increased significantly if the participant had a history of at least one inpatient admission (OR = 3.52; 95% confidence interval [95%CI] 1.07-11.54; P = .04) or at least one ED visit (OR = 8.93; 95%CI 2.41-33.14; P = .001) before age of 18. The associations remained significant adjusting for cannabis use, education, parental socio-economic class and childhood trauma.

Conclusion: Consistently with the socio-neurodevelopmental model, we found a significant association between a positive history of hospital care in childhood and adulthood-onset psychosis.

Keywords: epidemiology; first-episode psychosis; paediatric history.