RESEARCH ARTICLE
Rates of First Episode of Psychosis in a Defined Catchment Area in Greece
Vaios Peritogiannis 1, *, Christos Mantas 2, Athina Tatsioni 3, Venetsanos Mavreas 2
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2013Volume: 9
First Page: 251
Last Page: 254
Publisher ID: CPEMH-9-251
DOI: 10.2174/1745017901309010251
Article History:
Received Date: 27/2/2013Revision Received Date: 23/5/2013
Acceptance Date: 26/5/2013
Electronic publication date: 13 /12/2013
Collection year: 2013
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
This is the first Greek study presenting epidemiologic data on first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients in a defined catchment area. Data for first episode psychotic patients during a two-year period (2008 and 2009) were obtained by all the mental health providers in the area, public or private. A total of 132 FEP patients were examined in the 2-year period in the catchment area. Most of the patients (61.4%) were diagnosed and treated by private practicing psychiatrists. Statistical analysis showed no differences between the two sectors in terms of patients’ age, gender, family and social status, profession and duration of untreated psychosis (median duration 6 months). Patients who were abusing substances and had no family psychiatric history were less likely been treated in the public sector. Immigrants comprised only a small proportion of the patients, probably because they have difficulties in accessing the mental health system.
