Schizophrenia is a debilitating psychiatric disorder and patients experience significant comorbidity, especially cognitive and psychosocial deficits, already at the onset of disease. Previous research suggests that treatment during the earlier stages of disease reduces disease burden, and that a longer time of untreated psychosis has a negative impact on treatment outcomes. A targeted literature review was conducted to gain insight into the definitions currently used to describe patients with a recent diagnosis of schizophrenia in the early course of disease (‘early’ schizophrenia). A total of 483 relevant English-language publications of clinical guidelines and studies were identified for inclusion after searches of MEDLINE, MEDLINE In-Process, relevant clinical trial databases and Google for records published between January 2005 and October 2015. The extracted data revealed a wide variety of terminology and definitions used to describe patients with ‘early’ or ‘recent-onset’ schizophrenia, with no apparent consensus. The most commonly used criteria to define patients with early schizophrenia included experience of their first episode of schizophrenia or disease duration of less than 1, 2 or 5 years. These varied definitions likely result in substantial disparities of patient populations between studies and variable population heterogeneity. Better agreement on the definition of early schizophrenia could aid interpretation and comparison of studies in this patient population and consensus on definitions should allow for better identification and management of schizophrenia patients in the early course of their disease.

精神分裂症是一种使人衰弱的精神疾病，患者在疾病发作之初就患有严重的合并症，尤其是认知和心理社会缺陷。先前的研究表明，在疾病的早期阶段进行治疗可以减轻疾病负担，并且较长时间的未治疗精神病会对治疗结果产生负面影响。进行了有针对性的文献综述，以深入了解当前用于描述在疾病早期（“早期”精神分裂症）最近诊断为精神分裂症的患者的定义。在搜寻MEDLINE，MEDLINE In-Process，相关的临床试验数据库和Google在2005年1月至2015年10月之间发布的记录。提取的数据揭示了用于描述患有“早期”或“近期发作”精神分裂症的患者的各种术语和定义，但没有明显的共识。定义早期精神分裂症患者的最常用标准包括其第一次精神分裂症发作或疾病持续时间少于1、2或5年的经验。这些不同的定义可能导致研究之间的患者人群与可变人群异质性之间存在巨大差异。