Schizophrenia and gender

Abstract

The existence of significant differences in schizophrenia is an issue that has been discussed extensively. There are differences in the prognosis, marked by the age at onset, treatment adherence, or drug use. Another aspect is the clinical pattern (particularly cognitive symptoms), the response to treatment, and side effects. These differences can be explained on the basis of biological and psychosocial hypotheses. Schizophrenia is a very heterogeneous disorder if we consider its basic clinical characteristics. That heterogeneity is shown by the vast variability in the onset and clinical presentation, the course of the illness, and response to both pharmacological and psychosocial treatment. That heterogeneity may be due to gender-related features, or at least gender variables may help to understand those differences. For this reason, gender differences in schizophrenia have been widely studied in past few decades. Unfortunately, research for many of those differences has not been conclusive.