Table 1.
Summary of patient and condition characteristics (N = 304)
| Variable | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Age: all patients, n (range) | 42 (20–70) |
| Age: groups | |
| 20–29 | 39 (12.8) |
| 30–39 | 83 (27.3) |
| 40–49 | 96 (31.6) |
| 50–59 | 69 (22.7) |
| 60–70 | 17 (5.6) |
| Male sex | 237 (78) |
| Ethnicity | |
| White | 246 (80.9) |
| Mixed | 6 (2.0) |
| Asian or Asian British | 22 (7.3) |
| Black or Black British | 30 (9.9) |
| Characteristics of patient’s condition for N = 166a | |
| Time since diagnosis of schizophrenia (years)b | 12.1 (0–46) |
| Time in treatment since diagnosis (years)b | 12.8 (0–46) |
| Duration of negative symptoms (years) | 11.2 (0–46) |
| Duration of positive symptoms (years) | 12.4 (0–46) |
Data are presented as n (%) or mean (range) unless otherwise indicated
NICE National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
aCharacteristics about the patient’s condition were only collected for a subgroup of the study cohort (i.e., 166 people; 55% of the study cohort)
bThe mean time since diagnosis for this subgroup was 12.1 years, but the mean time in treatment since diagnosis was 12.8 years–based on the mean times, treatment for this patient group may have started before diagnosis. NICE’s recommendation to begin assessment “without delay” may have resulted in this patient group receiving treatment before a full diagnosis was confirmed [33], which possibly explains this difference in time between diagnosis and treatment