Confirmations, advances and recommendations for the daily care of schizophrenia based on the French national FACE-SZ cohort

Background The National FondaMental Centers of Expertise (FACE) for Schizophrenia (SZ) have been created to shorten the gap between research and clinical practice. Objectives To synthetize in a review the 10-year findings issued from the FACE-SZ cohort analyses. Methods More than 1000 patients were evaluated in 10 expert centers since 2010 with a 2-day long comprehensive standardized battery including neuropsychological testes and physical health assessment and followed-up for 3years. Results 1. The phase 0 cross-sectional analyses have confirmed well-known data: over-prescription of first-generation antipsychotics, antipsychotic polytherapy and long-term benzodiazepine and under-prescription of clozapine, 13% of drug-induced parkinsonism, 18% of akathisia, a mean duration of untreated psychosis of 18months, one third of poorly-adherent patients, 24% of metabolic syndrome and 52% of current tobacco smokers with poor care for physical illnesses; a yearly mean financial cost of 15,000 euro/patient. 2. FACE-SZ also yielded additional data in insufficiently explored area: a half of major depression issues (among them one third of undiagnosed major depression and 44% of treated patients with unremitted depression), major depression having a strong impact on Quality of Life independently of negative symptoms, 22% of moderated to severe untreated physical pain. 3. FACE-SZ has explored emerging fields of research, including development of 4 stages- model of schizophrenia, chronic low-grade peripheral inflammation, latent Toxoplasma infection, hypovitaminosis D, and a model for relapse prediction at 2years. Discussion The associated factors and implications for public health programs were discussed. Based on the FACE-SZ findings and literature, the FACE-SZ group has yielded recommendations to improve daily care for schizophrenia and for future research.