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BACKGROUND: Although the few available studies from LMICs report favorable outcome, the course of schizophrenia is more complex than has been indicated so far.

METHODS: A sample of 361 people with a standardized clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia were recruited from a predominantly rural community in Ethiopia and followed up regularly for an average of 10years. Psychiatrists used the Longitudinal Interval Follow-up Evaluation chart to carry out assessment of illness course. Duration of time in clinical remission was the primary outcome.

RESULT: About 61.0% of the patients remained under active follow-up, while 18.1% (n=65) were deceased. The mean percentage of follow-up time in complete remission was 28.4% (SD=33.0). Female patients were significantly more likely to have episodic illness course with no inter-episode residual or negative symptoms (χ(2)=6.28, P=0.012). Nearly 14.0% had continuous psychotic symptoms for over 75% of their follow-up time. Only 18.1% achieved complete remission for over 75% of their follow-up time. Later onset of illness was the only significant predictor of achieving full remission for over 50% of follow-up time in a fully adjusted model. Conventional antipsychotic medications were fairly well tolerated in 80% of the patients and 4.2% (n=15) experienced tardive dyskinesia.

CONCLUSION: This population-based study is one of the very few long-term outcome studies of schizophrenia in LMICs. The study demonstrated clearly a differential and more favorable course and outcome for female patients but overall course and outcome of schizophrenia appeared less favorable in this setting than has been reported from other LMICs.