Abstract
The present review explores the descriptive epidemiology of schizophrenia. Risk factors
and correlates are divided into three groups based on whether the available evidence
is consistent and strong, consistent and potentially strong, or inconsistent. The
paper then considers epidemiologic studies of the course of illness, including a description
of findings from the Suffolk County Mental Health Project. Given renewed attention
to the need for preventive interventions for individuals at high risk for developing
a psychotic illness, epidemiologic values have become more and more central to the
conduct of clinical research.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Biological PsychiatryAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Mortality in schizophrenia.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1986; 43: 650-653
- The Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). University of Iowa, Iowa City1983
- The Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS). University of Iowa, Iowa City1984
- Cannabis and schizophrenia.Lancet. 1987; 2: 1483-1486
- Epidemiology of schizophrenia.in: Häfner H Gattaz W.F Search for the Causes of Schizophrenia. Springer-Verlag, Berlin1991: 48-53
- Factors influencing relapse in the long-term course of schizophrenia.Schizophr Res. 1997; 28: 199-206
- Establishing the onset of psychotic illness.Am J Psychiatry. 1993; 150: 1349-1354
- Refining the diagnosis of schizophreniform disorder.Am J Psychiatry. 1988; 145: 695-700
- Schizophrenia.in: Bellack A Hersen M Psychopathology in Adulthood. Allyn and Bacon, Boston1993: 216-333
- Epidemiology of psychosis with special reference to schizophrenia.in: Tsuang M Tohen M Zahner G Textbook in Psychiatric Epidemiology. Wiley-Liss, Inc, New York1995: 283-300
- The Suffolk County Mental health project.Psychol Med. 1996; 26: 953-962
- The epidemiology of psychosis.Schizophr Bull. 1992; 18: 243-255
- Influence of family life on the course of schizophrenic disorders.Br J Psychiatry. 1972; 121: 241-258
- People with schizophrenia and their families.Br J Psychiatry. 1998; 173: 139-144
- Expressed emotion and psychiatric relapse.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1998; 55: 547-552
- Measurement of premorbid adjustment in chronic schizophrenia.Schizophr Bull. 1982; 8: 470-484
- Threatening life events in the onset of schizophrenia, schizophreniform psychosis and hypomania.Br J Psychiatry. 1986; 148: 680-685
- The clinician’s illusion.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1984; 41: 1178-1182
- Affective syndromes, psychotic features, and prognosis, I.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1990; 47: 651-657
- Affective syndromes, psychotic features, and prognosis, I.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1990; 47: 658-662
- Outcome in schizophrenia and related disorders compared between developing and developed countries.Br J Psychiatry. 1997; 176: 229-233
- Obstetric complications and the risk of schizophrenia.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1999; 56: 234-240
- Urban-rural differences in place of upbringing and later schizophrenia.Schizophr Res. 1992; 6: 101-107
- Age of onset in familial schizophrenia.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1994; 51: 334-335
- Prevalence and incidence of schizophrenic disorders in Portogruaro.J Nerv Ment Dis. 1993; 181: 275-282
- Social Status and Psychological Disorder. John Wiley & Sons, New York1969
- Psychiatric disorders in urban settings.in: Caplan G 2nd edition. American Handbook of Psychiatry. vol 2. Basic Books, New York1974: 424-447
- Socioeconomic status and psychiatric disorders.Science. 1992; 255: 946-952
- Decline in the diagnosis of schizophrenia among first admissions to Scottish mental hospitals from 1969–1978.Br J Psychiatry. 1985; 146: 151-154
- The use of epidemiology for risk factor research in schizophrenia.in: Tsuang M.T Simpson J.C Handbook of Schizophrenia, vol 3 Nosology, Epidemiology, and Genetics of Schizophrenia. Elsevier, New York1988: 169-204
- Schizophrenia and rheumatoid arthritis.Schizophr Res. 1992; 6: 181-192
- Long-term course of hospitalization for schizophrenia.Schizophr Bull. 1992; 18: 217-241
Faris R, Dunham H (1939): Mental Disorders in Urban Areas: An Ecological Study of Schizophrenia and Other Psychoses. New York: Hafner.
- Family stress and schizophrenia.Psychiatr Clin North Am. 1986; 9: 165-182
- Comparison of facility and research diagnoses in first-admission psychotic patients.Am J Psychiatry. 1994; 151: 1423-1429
- Six-month stability of psychiatric diagnosis in first admission patients with psychosis.Am J Psychiatry. 1994; 151: 1200-1208
- Obstetric complications and schizophrenia.Br J Psychiatry. 1995; 167: 786-793
- Schizophrenia. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge1982
- Medical Epidemiology. 2nd ed. Appleton & Lange, Norwalk, CT1996
- Causes and consequences of the gender difference in age at onset of schizophrenia.Schizophr Bull. 1998; 24: 99-113
- IRAOS.Schizophr Res. 1992; 6: 209-233
- Course and outcome for schizophrenia versus other psychotic patients.Schizophr Bull. 1997; 23: 287-303
- The Quality of Life Scale.Schizophr Bull. 1984; 10: 388-398
- The heterogeneous course of schizophrenia.Schizophr Res. 1997; 28: 177-185
- Where are the women in first-episode studies of schizophrenia?.Schizophr Bull. 1992; 18: 471-480
- Epidemiology of schizophrenia.Schizophr Bull. 1986; 12: 52-73
- The 100-year epidemiology of schizophrenia.Schizophr Res. 1997; 28: 111-125
- The new epidemiology of schizophrenia.Psychiatr Clin North Am. 1998; 21: 1-25
- Schizophrenia as a long-term outcome of pregnancy, delivery, and perinatal complications.Am J Psychiatry. 1998; 155: 355-364
Kendler KS (1988): The genetics of schizophrenia. In: Tsuang MT, Simpson JC, editors. Handbook of Schizophrenia, vol 3, Nosology, Epidemiology and Genetics. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers BV, pp 437–462.
- Obstetric complications and schizophrenia.Br J Psychiatry. 1996; 168: 556-561
- Lifetime prevalence, demographic risk factors, and diagnostic validity of nonaffective psychosis as assessed in a U.S. community sample.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1996; 53: 1022-1031
- The Roscommon Family Study.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1993; 50: 527-539
- Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DSM-III-R psychiatric disorders in the United States. Results from the National Comorbidity survey.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1994; 51: 8-19
- IQ decline during childhood and adult psychotic symptoms in a community sample.Am J Psychiatry. 1998; 155: 672-677
- First-episode schizophrenia.Schizophr Bull. 1996; 22: 241-256
- The International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia.Psychol Med. 1992; 22: 131-145
- An epidemiological study of mental disorders in a 10-year cohort of young adults in Israel.Psychol Med. 1993; 23: 691-707
- Schizophrenia and city life.Lancet. 1992; 340: 137-140
- Formulation of hypotheses about the ratio of untreated to treated cases in the true prevalence studies of functional psychiatric disorders in adults in the United States.in: Dohrenwend B.P Dohrenwend B.S Gould M.S Mental Illness in the United States Epidemiological Estimates. Praeger, New York1980: 133-149
- The course of schizophrenia over 13 years.Br J Psychiatry. 1996; 169: 580-586
- Perinatal risk factors and schizophrenia.Epidemiol Rev. 1995; 17: 107-112
- Child psychiatric sequelae of maternal war stress.Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1985; 72: 505-511
- Genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia.T Psychiatr Clin North Am. 1986; 9: 3-16
- Predictors of outcome in schizophrenia.J Clin Psychopharmacol. 1998; 18: 2S-4S
- Season of birth in schizophrenia.Br J Psychiatry. 1991; 158: 764-769
- The association between season of birth and the risk of schizophrenia.Am J Epidemiol. 1981; 114: 735-749
- Prevalence and severity of substance use disorders and onset of psychosis.Psychol Med. 1998; 28: 1411-1419
- The natural course of schizophrenia.Schizophr Bull. 1992; 18: 185-207
- Shifts in diagnostic frequencies of schizophrenia and major affective disorders at six North American psychiatric hospitals, 1972–1988.Am J Psychiatry. 1993; 150: 1668-1673
- Twelve-month outcome after a first hospitalization for affective psychosis.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1998; 55: 49-55
- Schizophrenia after prenatal exposure to the Dutch hunger winter of 1944–1945.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1992; 49: 983-988
- Schizophrenia after prenatal famine.Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1996; 53: 25-31
- Winter birth excess in schizophrenia.Schizophr Res. 1992; 6: 102-108
- Prediction of outcome in mania by mood-congruent or mood-incongruent psychotic features.Am J Psychiatry. 1992; 149: 1580-1584
- Seasonability of schizophrenia and stillbirths.Schizophr Bull. 1993; 19: 557-562
- Prevalence of treated and untreated DSM-III schizophrenia.J Nerv Ment Dis. 1985; 173: 577-580
- Prenatal exposure to maternal stress and subsequent schizophrenia.Br J Psychiatry. 1998; 172: 324-326
- The influence of family and social factors on the course of psychiatric illness.Br J Psychiatry. 1976; 129: 125-137
- Obstetric complications and age of onset in schizophrenia.Am J Psychiatry. 1997; 154: 1220-1227
- Clinical and psychosocial variables in different diagnostic groups.Psychopathology. 1996; 29: 159-168
- Course and outcome in schizophrenia.in: Tsuang M.T Simpson J.C Handbook of Schizophrenia, vol 3, Nosology, Epidemiology and Genetics. Elsevier Science Publishers BV, Amsterdam1988: 205-244
- Anchoring the BPRS.Psychopharmacol Bull. 1988; 24: 112-124
- First-episode schizophrenia.Br J Psychiatry. 1998; 72: 77-83
Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
June 14,
1999
Received in revised form:
June 8,
1999
Received:
October 2,
1998
Identification
Copyright
© 1999 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
