The association between migrant status and transition in an ultra-high risk for psychosis population

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Brian O’Donoghue
  • Hellen Geros
  • Holly Sizer
  • Jean Addington
  • G. Paul Amminger
  • Carrie E. Beaden
  • Kristin S. Cadenhead
  • Tyrone D. Cannon
  • Barbara A. Cornblatt
  • Gregor Emanuel Berger
  • Eric Y.H. Chen
  • Lieuwe de Haan
  • Jessica A. Hartmann
  • Ian B. Hickie
  • Helga K. Ising
  • Suzie Lavoie
  • Ashleigh Lin
  • Connie Markulev
  • Daniel H. Mathalon
  • Thomas H. McGlashan
  • Nathan G. Mifsud
  • Nilufar Mossaheb
  • Dorien H. Nieman
  • Diana O. Perkins
  • Anita Riecher-Rössler
  • Miriam R. Schäfer
  • Monika Schlögelhofer
  • Larry J. Seidman
  • Stephan Smesny
  • Andrew Thompson
  • Ming T. Tsuang
  • Mark van der Gaag
  • Swapna Verma
  • Elaine F. Walker
  • Stephen J. Wood
  • Scott W. Woods
  • Hok Pan Yuen
  • Alison Ruth Yung
  • Patrick D. McGorry
  • Barnaby Nelson

Purpose: Migrant status is one of the most replicated and robust risk factors for developing a psychotic disorder. This study aimed to determine whether migrant status in people identified as Ultra-High Risk for Psychosis (UHR) was associated with risk of transitioning to a full-threshold psychotic disorder. Methods: Hazard ratios for the risk of transition were calculated from five large UHR cohorts (n = 2166) and were used to conduct a meta-analysis using the generic inverse-variance method using a random-effects model. Results: 2166 UHR young people, with a mean age of 19.1 years (SD ± 4.5) were included, of whom 221 (10.7%) were first-generation migrants. A total of 357 young people transitioned to psychosis over a median follow-up time of 417 days (I.Q.R.147–756 days), representing 17.0% of the cohort. The risk of transition to a full-threshold disorder was not increased for first-generation migrants, (HR = 1.08, 95% CI 0.62–1.89); however, there was a high level of heterogeneity between studies The hazard ratio for second-generation migrants to transition to a full-threshold psychotic disorder compared to the remainder of the native-born population was 1.03 (95% CI 0.70–1.51). Conclusions: This meta-analysis did not find a statistically significant association between migrant status and an increased risk for transition to a full-threshold psychotic disorder; however, several methodological issues could explain this finding. Further research should focus on examining the risk of specific migrant groups and also ensuring that migrant populations are adequately represented within UHR clinics.

Original languageEnglish
JournalSocial Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology
Volume56
Issue number6
Pages (from-to)943-952
Number of pages10
ISSN0933-7954
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

    Research areas

  • Migrants, Psychotic disorders, Ultra-high risk for psychosis

ID: 284193895