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Epidemiology
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Schizophrenia is a common disorder requiring extensive health care provision.
Incidence
- point prevalence is 0.5%
- lifetime risk of developing schizophrenia is 1%
- there is equal incidence in both sexes
- it often manifests in the second and third decade people but can occur at any age
Social class
Increased rates are found in deprived socially isolated areas of large cities. This may be due to social drift i.e. the sufferer drifts to these areas as a result of their illness (e.g. cardboard city). Comparison of the socio-economic classes of the fathers of schizophrenics reveals no increased incidence in any particular class.
Genetics
When the risk for an individual related to a patient with schizophrenia is explored the prevalence is dependent on their relationship to sufferer. So that the risk for each subset of relatives is:
- Parent - 5%
- Child of one schizophrenic parent - 12%
- Child of two schizophrenic parents - 46%
- Sibling - 8%
- In twin studies the concordance rates were:
Dizygotic twins 9%
Monozygotic twins 42%
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