Prevalence
- The lifetime prevalence of schizophrenia is estimated to be between 0.5% and 1.0%.[1]
- There are approximately 24 million people worldwide with schizophrenia.[2]
- That is approximately 1.0% of the world population.[3]
- Prevalence for schizophrenia is similar throughout the world.[3]
- Other psychotic disorders including schizoaffective disorder and delusional disorder have a combined prevalence of approximately 0.5%.[1]
Incidence
- The incidence of schizophrenia is approximately 3 per 10,000 per year.[2]
- Schizophrenia incidence rates are usually much lower than prevalence rates due to the chronic nature of the disease.
- There is no cure for the disease and so there are many more people living with the disease than are newly diagnosed each year.
- Schizophrenia affects approximately 7 in 1000 adults.
- It may develop at any age, although it usually develops during early adulthood.[3]
- Schizophrenia is associated with low economic status, but it is not known whether this is a cause or an effect
- Approximately 50% of people with schizophrenia are not receiving appropriate care and 90% of people with untreated schizophrenia are in developing countries.[2]
- Late-onset schizophrenia is most often diagnosed in women who have better occupational histories and fewer negative symptoms.[4]
- In general, schizophrenia occurs at equal rates in males and females, but there are gender differences in the presentation and course of the illness.[3] The average age of onset for females is 25 years while the average age of onset for males is 18.[5]
References
- Kaplan HI, Sadock BJ. Kaplan & Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry. Williams & Wilkins, 1994458.
- World Health Organization. http://www.searo.who.int/en/section1174/section1199/section1567_6744.htm. 2007.
- Mueser KT, McGurk SR. Lancet 2004; 363: 2063-2072.
- Howard R et al. Am J Psychiatry 2000; 157: 172-178.
- National Institute of Mental Health. http://www.nimh.nih.gov/publicat/schizoph.cfm#occurrence. 2007.
