Sex differences in schizophrenia: A review

Abstract

During the past decade schizophrenia research has emphasized the importance of sex differences. Most studies have found that lifetime risk of schizophrenia has been equally common in both sexes. Men develop schizophrenia 3-4 years earlier than women, regardless of culture, but late-onset schizophrenia has been found to be commoner in women. Women more often have a favorable course of schizophrenia than men: they experience fewer and shorter hospitalizations, survive longer in the community, and also have better social functioning. Men more often have chronic and more severe forms of schizophrenia, they have negative symptoms more often, and their doses of neuroleptic medication are higher. Men with schizophrenia tend to have more central nervous system abnormalities than women. In the future it is important to study factors that have been observed in sex differences, heredity, and brain physiology as they relate to schizophrenia. Sex differences as they relate to treatment programs are important both from a scientific perspective and from a practical point of view.