ITAREPS IQ: Module for sophisticated prediction of schizophrenia relapses

Relapse in schizophrenia remains common and cannot be entirely eliminated even by the best combination of biological and psychosocial interventions. Relapse prevention is crucial as each relapse may result in the growth of residual symptoms and accelerating social disablement. The patients suffering from schizophrenia diagnosis have one of the highest relapse rates characterized by long-stay hospitalization. The system ITAREPS (Information Technology Aided Relapse Prevention in Schizophrenia) has been developed for rapid and targeted recognition of early warning signs of psychotic disorder relapse. There was a large decrease in the number of hospitalizations within the cooperating participants of the ITAREPS system – about 60%. New module called ITAREPS IQ for schizophrenia relapse prediction is introduced. Module contains preprocessing block and pattern recognition techniques including neural network framework. Efficiency, benefits and problems of the ITAREPS system and the new module are discussed. ITAREPS is cost-effective in the selected settings and is financially viable in relation to the cost of psychiatric services.