Clusters of social and substance use-related risks are associated with the duration of untreated psychosis

Background The duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) is still considerably long in patients with psychotic disorders worldwide. Social determinants, such as the socioeconomic status, can influence DUP, exacerbating health inequalities in access to timely care. We investigated whether subpopulations with shared characteristics are associated with longer DUP. Methods We performed latent class analyses to investigate whether classes with shared configurations of social and substance use-related risks can be identified in two large cohorts with psychotic disorders: N = 780 patients from the GROUP project and N = 847 patients from the EU-GEI project. Subsequently, we conducted survival analyses to analyze whether identified classes are associated with DUP. Results We identified three classes in both samples. Membership of the class with predominantly younger men, higher proportion of cannabis use, and supported living was associated with longer DUP compared with a class with predominantly White ethnicity, higher education, and current employment in GROUP (HR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.06-1.56, p =.011) and in EU-GEI (HR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.07-1.51, p =.007). In GROUP, membership of a third class with predominantly White women, without cannabis use, was associated with the shortest DUP (HR = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.63-0.95, p =.016). Conclusions Results suggest that specific populations differ in their risk distributions for prolonged DUP and highlight the importance of considering configurations of social determinants in context. Public mental health programs need to establish their differential impact for diverse populations and facilitate more targeted pathways to care.