Treatment costs and clinical outcome for first episode schizophrenia patients: a 3-year follow-up of the Swedish "Parachute Project" and two comparison groups.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate "need-specific treatment" of first episode schizophrenia syndrome patients. METHOD: Sixty-one consecutive first episode schizophrenia syndrome patients were followed over 3 years. They were compared with a Historical "treatment as usual" group (n = 41) and a Prospective group from a high quality social and biological psychiatry centre (n = 25). RESULTS: Symptomatic and functional outcome was significantly better compared with the Historical group and equal with the Prospective group. During the first year, the direct costs for in- and out-patient care per patient in the Parachute project were less than half of those in the Prospective group. CONCLUSION: The study confirms the feasibility, clinically and economically, with a large scale application of "need-specific treatments" for first episode psychotic patients.