TY - JOUR
T1 - The effects of recent stressful life events on outcomes in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis: results from the longitudinal EU-GEI high-risk study
AU - See, Cheryl
AU - Si, Shuqing
AU - Hedges, Emily
AU - Tognin, Stefania
AU - Modinos, Gemma
AU - van der Gaag, Mark
AU - de Haan, Lieuwe
AU - Velthorst, Eva
AU - McGorry, Patrick D.
AU - Nelson, Barnaby
AU - Riecher-Roessler, Anita
AU - Bressan, Rodrigo A.
AU - Barrantes-Vidal, Neus
AU - Krebs, Marie-Odile
AU - Nordentoft, Merete
AU - Ruhrmann, Stephan
AU - Sachs, Gabriele
AU - Rutten, Bart P. F.
AU - van Os, Jim
AU - EU-GEI High Risk Study Group,
AU - McGuire, Philip
AU - Valmaggia, Lucia
AU - Kempton, Matthew
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press.
PY - 2025/1/8
Y1 - 2025/1/8
N2 - Background Recent stressful life events (SLE) are a risk factor for psychosis, but limited research has explored how SLEs affect individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis. The current study investigated the longitudinal effects of SLEs on functioning and symptom severity in CHR individuals, where we hypothesized CHR would report more SLEs than healthy controls (HC), and SLEs would be associated with poorer outcomes. Methods The study used longitudinal data from the EU-GEI High Risk study. Data from 331 CHR participants were analyzed to examine the effects of SLEs on changes in functioning, positive and negative symptoms over a 2-year follow-up. We compared the prevalence of SLEs between CHR and HCs, and between CHR who did (CHR-T) and did not (CHR-NT) transition to psychosis. Results CHR reported 1.44 more SLEs than HC (p < 0.001), but there was no difference in SLEs between CHR-T and CHR-NT at baseline. Recent SLEs were associated with poorer functioning and more severe positive and negative symptoms in CHR individuals (all p < 0.01) but did not reveal a significant interaction with time. Conclusions CHR individuals who had experienced recent SLEs exhibited poorer functioning and more severe symptoms. However, as the interaction between SLEs and time was not significant, this suggests SLEs did not contribute to a worsening of symptoms and functioning over the study period. SLEs could be a key risk factor to becoming CHR for psychosis, however further work is required to inform when early intervention strategies mitigating against the effects of stress are most effective.
AB - Background Recent stressful life events (SLE) are a risk factor for psychosis, but limited research has explored how SLEs affect individuals at clinical high risk (CHR) for psychosis. The current study investigated the longitudinal effects of SLEs on functioning and symptom severity in CHR individuals, where we hypothesized CHR would report more SLEs than healthy controls (HC), and SLEs would be associated with poorer outcomes. Methods The study used longitudinal data from the EU-GEI High Risk study. Data from 331 CHR participants were analyzed to examine the effects of SLEs on changes in functioning, positive and negative symptoms over a 2-year follow-up. We compared the prevalence of SLEs between CHR and HCs, and between CHR who did (CHR-T) and did not (CHR-NT) transition to psychosis. Results CHR reported 1.44 more SLEs than HC (p < 0.001), but there was no difference in SLEs between CHR-T and CHR-NT at baseline. Recent SLEs were associated with poorer functioning and more severe positive and negative symptoms in CHR individuals (all p < 0.01) but did not reveal a significant interaction with time. Conclusions CHR individuals who had experienced recent SLEs exhibited poorer functioning and more severe symptoms. However, as the interaction between SLEs and time was not significant, this suggests SLEs did not contribute to a worsening of symptoms and functioning over the study period. SLEs could be a key risk factor to becoming CHR for psychosis, however further work is required to inform when early intervention strategies mitigating against the effects of stress are most effective.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85214869983&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0033291724003039
DO - 10.1017/S0033291724003039
M3 - Article
SN - 0033-2917
VL - 54
SP - 4768
EP - 4778
JO - Psychological Medicine
JF - Psychological Medicine
IS - 16
ER -