Medical Sciences Division, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; and Translational and Clinical Research Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Hadar Hazan
Program for Specialized Treatment Early in Psychosis (STEP), Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Bin Zhou
Yale Centre for Analytical Sciences (YCAS), Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Fangyong Li
Yale Centre for Analytical Sciences (YCAS), Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Maria Ferrara
Program for Specialized Treatment Early in Psychosis (STEP), Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA; and Institute of Psychiatry, Department of Neuroscience and Rehabilitation, University of Ferrrara, Ferrara, Italy
Nina Levine
Program for Specialized Treatment Early in Psychosis (STEP), Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Sarah Riley
Program for Specialized Treatment Early in Psychosis (STEP), Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Sneha Karmani
Program for Specialized Treatment Early in Psychosis (STEP), Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Walter S. Mathis
Program for Specialized Treatment Early in Psychosis (STEP), Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Matcheri S. Keshavan
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
We investigated the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP). First-episode psychosis admissions (n = 101) to the STEP Clinic in Connecticut showed DUP reduction (P = 0.0015) during the pandemic, with the median reducing from 208 days pre-pandemic to 56 days in the early pandemic period, and subsequently increasing to 154 days (P = 0.0281). Time from psychosis onset to antipsychotic prescription decreased significantly in the pandemic (P = 0.0183), with the median falling from 117 to 35 days. This cohort study demonstrates an association between greater pandemic restrictions and marked DUP reduction, and provides insights for future early detection efforts.
