Validation of the remission criteria in a Chinese population with chronic schizophrenia

Background A consensus definition of symptomatic remission in schizophrenia was recently established based on a fixed threshold for symptom severity and a time component. The objective of this study was to determine the clinical relevance of this definition in a Chinese population and find the predictors of symptomatic remission, functional outcome and cognition. Methods Seventy-five schizophrenic patients were recruited within a period of 2 years. All patients need to prospectively be followed up in an outpatient clinic for at least 6 months. During this period, it was not allowed to adjust their medications. Three different definitions of symptomatic remission included the Remission in Schizophrenia Working Group (RSWG), clinical global impression (CGI) and brief psychiatric rating scale (BPRS) was evaluated. In addition, the function and cognition was assessed as the measured outcomes. The prediction model of outcomes measurement was used for statistic analysis. Results The cumulative percentage of achieving remission criteria among three different definitions of symptomatic remission was 52% in RSWG criteria, 63% in CGI and 65% in BPRS, respectively. In comparison of remitted and non-remitted groups, there were significant differences in sex, education, function and cognition in terms of RSWG definition but not in CGI and BPRS. Female gender and education were two factors for predicting symptomatic remission and function, whereas body mass index and education were two factors for prediction of better cognition. Conclusions Our study indicates that the definition of RSWG was more clinical relevant compared with CGI and BPRS in Chinese schizophrenia.