New Findings Reported from Esi Coro and Co-Authors Describe Advances in Psychosis (Is treatment during a first hospitalization for an acute psychotic episode and after discharge associated with race or ethnicity?): Mental Health Diseases and Conditions – Psychosis

2025 OCT 30 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at TB & Outbreaks Daily News -- Current study results on Mental Health Diseases and Conditions - Psychosis have been published. According to news reporting out of Cambridge, Massachusetts, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “Historically, a first psychotic episode was thought to lead to lifelong disability. The advent of early intervention programs like Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) now offers the potential to change this trajectory.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research, “However, racial and ethnic minoritized populations in the United States may face barriers in accessing CSC treatment, may be treated differently when hospitalized, and may have poorer outcomes, possibly associated with differences in the use of follow-up outpatient programs. A total of 275 individuals were identified aged 15-35 with a first hospitalization for psychosis between January 2019 and December 2020, who were treated in an urban public healthcare system with specialized inpatient and outpatient mental health services, including a CSC program. Inpatient care variables were examined using electronic medical records (EMR) for the index hospital stay. Follow-up data were obtained from the EMR, supplemented by insurance claims data over a 36-month post-discharge period. The primary predictor for care post initial hospitalization was race and ethnicity. Key outcomes included rehospitalization, emergency visits and number of follow-up outpatient behavioral health visits. Statistical analyses included negative binomial regression adjusting for demographic and clinical characteristics. Descriptive analyses also compared the pre-pandemic (2019) and first-year pandemic (2020) cohorts (Tables 1b and 1c). While in the hospital, no significant disparities in care existed between racial and ethnic groups. Only 41 (14.9%) of the 275 patients were referred to the available coordinated specialty care (CSC) program, regardless of race or ethnicity. However, significant disparities in 36-month follow-up care across racial and ethnic groups were identified. Adjusting for demographic and clinical covariates, Black patients had significantly more rehospitalizations, emergency room visits, and behavioral health outpatient visits when compared to other race/ethnic groups (p <0.05). Additionally, those who used multiple substances, regardless of race and ethnicity, also had increased re-hospitalizations and outpatient behavioral health encounters (p <0.05). The referral to state-of-the-art CSC care subsequent to a first hospitalization for psychosis is crucial for leading to good outcomes. In this cohort, race and ethnicity did not influence choice of referrals, but too few were made. More research is needed to determine if a lack of referral to a CSC programs could be a reason for repeated subsequent emergency room visits and hospitalizations. Education of referring clinicians at acute hospital settings may mitigate this problem.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Independent factors that contributed to poorer long-term outcome included either identifying racially as Black, or being a person who abuses substances, regardless of racial identity.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Is treatment during a first hospitalization for an acute psychotic episode and after discharge associated with race or ethnicity? Psychiatry Research, 2025;354:116770. Psychiatry Research can be contacted at: Elsevier Ireland Ltd, Elsevier House, Brookvale Plaza, East Park Shannon, Co, Clare, 00000, Ireland. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Psychiatry Research - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/psychiatry-research/)

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Esi Coro, Recovery In Shared Experiences, RISE Research Team, Cambridge Health Alliance Out-patient Department, Cambridge, MA, United States. Additional authors for this research include Clifton Chow, Victoria Hasler, Andrew Hyatt, Rajendra Aldis, Norah Mulvaney-Day and Lynn E. DeLisi.

Publisher contact information for the journal Psychiatry Research is: Elsevier Ireland Ltd, Elsevier House, Brookvale Plaza, East Park Shannon, Co, Clare, 00000, Ireland.

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