Psychosocial treatments for relapse prevention in schizophrenia: study protocol for a systematic review and network meta-analysis of randomised evidence

Comparative efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions for adults with sleep apnea: A systematic review and network meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Sleep apnea is associated with cardiovascular risk, work productivity, occupational/traffic accidents, and quality-of-life (QoL); however uncertainty exists regarding optimal treatment. We performed a systematic review on the efficacy of non-pharmacological interventions for adults with sleep apnea.

METHOD

We searched MEDLINE, Scopus, Virtual-Health-Library and Web-of-Science through June 2023 for parallel/cross-over randomized trials on adults with sleep apnea (apnea-hypopnea-index>5 events/hour). Study selection, data extraction and risk-of-bias assessment were performed in duplicate, followed by frequentist network meta-analyses.

RESULTS

Ultimately, 197 unique trials were included (15,931 patients; mean age 51.4 years; 78.9 % male) assessing 25 treatments. Positive Airway Pressure (PAP) (alone or combined with health behaviour modification) consistently improved more apnea-hypopnea-index or daytime sleepiness and physical/mental QoL in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients compared to all other interventions but was not always well-tolerated. Mandibular advancement devices (MAD) yielded the greatest improvement in depression, while also improving objective/subjective apnea-outcomes, and physical/mental QoL-albeit less than PAP and less for moderate/severe cases. Acupuncture, health behaviour modifications, surgical maxillomandibular advancement, minor oral surgery, oropharyngeal training, oxygen supplementation, or electrical neurostimulation might improve apnea-related outcomes, but weak evidence exists. Finally, electrical neurostimulation performed best for central sleep apnea and PAP performed best for positional OSA. Confidence in the network meta-analysis estimates was low due to non-adherence issues that was rarely directly assessed in included trials with objective measures.

CONCLUSION

PAP (alone or with co-interventions) performed best for the treatment of adult OSA patients regardless of disease severity. For patients not tolerating PAP, MADs might be a good alternative, but confer smaller improvements overall. However, adherence issues and the heterogenous response increase the complexity of OSA treatment.

Psychosocial and psychological interventions for relapse prevention in schizophrenia: a systematic review and network meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Many psychosocial and psychological interventions are used in patients with schizophrenia, but their comparative efficacy in the prevention of relapse is not known. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy, acceptability, and tolerability of psychosocial and psychological interventions for relapse prevention in schizophrenia.

METHODS

To conduct this systematic review and network meta-analysis we searched for published and unpublished randomised controlled trials that investigated psychosocial or psychological interventions aimed at preventing relapse in patients with schizophrenia. We searched EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, BIOSIS, Cochrane Library, WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, and ClinicalTrials.gov up to Jan 20, 2020, and searched PubMed up to April 14, 2020. We included open and masked studies done in adults with schizophrenia or related disorders. We excluded studies in which all patients were acutely ill, had a concomitant medical or psychiatric disorder, or were prodromal or "at risk of psychosis". Study selection and data extraction were done by two reviewers independently based on published and unpublished reports, and by contacting study authors. Data were extracted about efficacy, tolerability, and acceptability of the interventions; potential effect moderators; and study quality and characteristics. The primary outcome was relapse measured with operationalised criteria or psychiatric hospital admissions. We did random-effects network meta-analysis to calculate odds ratios (ORs) or standardised mean differences (SMDs) with 95% CIs. The study protocol was registered with PROSPERO, CRD42019147884.

FINDINGS

We identified 27 765 studies through the database search and 330 through references of previous reviews and studies. We screened 28 000 records after duplicates were removed. 24 406 records were excluded by title and abstract screening and 3594 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility. 3350 articles were then excluded for a variety of reasons, and 244 full-text articles corresponding to 85 studies were included in the qualitative synthesis. Of these, 72 studies with 10 364 participants (3939 females and 5716 males with sex indicated) were included in the network meta-analysis. The randomised controlled trials included compared 20 psychological interventions given mainly as add-on to antipsychotics. Ethnicity data were not available. Family interventions (OR 0·35, 95% CI 0·24-0·52), relapse prevention programmes (OR 0·33, 0·14-0·79), cognitive behavioural therapy (OR 0·45, 0·27-0·75), family psychoeducation (OR 0·56, 0·39-0·82), integrated interventions (OR 0·62, 0·44-0·87), and patient psychoeducation (OR 0·63, 0·42-0·94) reduced relapse more than treatment as usual at 1 year. The confidence in the estimates ranged from moderate to very low. We found no indication of publication bias.

INTERPRETATION

We found robust benefits in reducing the risk of relapse for family interventions, family psychoeducation, and cognitive behavioral therapy. These treatments should be the first psychosocial interventions to be considered in the long-term treatment for patients with schizophrenia.

FUNDING

German Ministry for Education and Research.

Clinical and demographic factors associated with early relapse in patients with schizophrenia: a naturalistic observation study

Schizophrenia is a chronic psychiatric disorder progressing in relapses. Identification of many factors that may potentially increase the risk of relapse will be an important step in preventing relapses. The aim of this study was to determine the rate of early relapse in patients with schizophrenia and possible risk factors related to early relapse. The sample of this prospective study with the naturalistic observation design consisted of 308 patients with schizophrenia. The cutoff value for early relapse was determined as 1 year. The mean age of participants was 37.38 ± 12.28 years and 66.6% of them were male (n = 205). The early relapse rate was 38.3%. The age younger than 35 [hazard ratio (HR) = 2.313; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.518-3.526; P < 0.001], use of psychoactive substance (HR = 2.200; 95% CI, 1.407-3.440; P = 0.001), previous attempt of suicide (HR = 1.565; 95% CI, 1.028-2.384; P = 0.037), bad adherence to treatment (HR = 3.102; 95% CI, 1.358-7.086; P = 0.007), long-acting injectables (LAIs) antipsychotics in the treatment (HR = 0.534; 95% CI, 0.351-0.812; P = 0.003), combination typical-atypical antipsychotics (HR = 0.326; 95% CI, 0.131-0.807; P = 0.015), number of episodes (HR = 1.088; 95% CI, 1.043-1.134), and the score on the Side Effect factor of the Clinical Global Impressions Scale (HR = 1.826; 95% CI, 1.357-2.458; P < 0.001) were identified as the independent predictors of early relapse. It is remarkable that treatment bad adherence, use of psychoactive substance, no LAIs antipsychotics included in the treatment, and the no presence of the combination of typical and atypical antipsychotics are alterable predictors of early relapse.