Citation

Chen SC, Chu NH, Hwu HG, Chen WJ. J. Psychiatr. Res. 2015; 66-67: 105-111.

Affiliation

Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, College of Public Health, National Taiwan University, Taipei 100, Taiwan; Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University Hospital and College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 100, Taiwan. Electronic address: wjchen@ntu.edu.tw.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jpsychires.2015.04.022

PMID

26004299

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the trajectory patterns of violence in schizophrenia inpatients, examine the relationships between the violence trajectories and baseline clinical features and lipid levels, and generate a model to predict the more violent trajectories.

METHODS: In a sample of 107 consecutively admitted patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, violent behavior was weekly rated using the Violence Scale. The patients' blood levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were measured at admission. A trajectory analysis was used to classify the patients' longitudinal courses in violence, and the correlates of these trajectories were assessed using multinomial logistic regression analyses. A stepwise logistic regression was used to select the best predictor variables for the more violent trajectories.

RESULTS: Four violence trajectories of inpatients were obtained: class 1 (no violence, 37.4%), class 2 (low-leveling off, 39.2%), class 3 (high-falling sharply, 10.3%), and class 4 (high-falling slowly, 13.1%). Although the relationship between decreasing TC and TG levels and increased violence in the trajectory classes did not reach statistical significance, a decreasing trend in the proportion of high dichotomized-TG levels was significantly associated with more violence in the trajectory classes (p = 0.04). A five-variable model consisting of female gender, early onset, higher scores of positive symptoms, lower scores of negative symptoms, and low dichotomized-TC levels had a predictive accuracy of 0.85 (95% CI = 0.72-0.97).

CONCLUSIONS: Distinct violence trajectories exist in schizophrenia inpatients, and the more violent trajectories can be predicted using baseline clinical features and lipid levels.

Language: en