Early-life factors associated with increased risk of disability pension in the national real-world schizophrenia FACE-SZ cohort study

Abstract

Among severe psychiatric disorders, schizophrenia has one of the highest impacts on professional and personal functioning with important indirect costs including disability pension allowance for the patients with the more severe forms of schizophrenia. To explore early-life factors associated with disability pension in schizophrenia. 916 patients were consecutively recruited at a national level in 10 expert centers and received a comprehensive standardized evaluation. Their disability pension status and early-life variables were reported from medical records and validated scales. Eight factors were explored: age, male sex, parental history of severe mental illness, childhood trauma exposure, education level, childhood ADHD, early age at schizophrenia onset and duration of untreated psychosis. 739 (80.7%) participants received a disability pension. In the multivariate model, early age at schizophrenia onset and low education level were associated with disability pension independently of age and sex while no significant association was found for parent history of severe mental illness, childhood trauma, childhood ADHD or duration of untreated psychosis. Low education level and early age at schizophrenia onset seem the best predictors of increased risk of disability pension in schizophrenia.

Keywords: Mental health; Psychiatry; Public health; Quality of life; Schizophrenia.