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Gender and mortality in schizophrenia: do women act like men?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

J. M. Goldstein ,
S. L. Santangelo ,
J. Simpson  and
M. T. Tsuang
J. M. Goldstein*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Division of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics, Brockton-West Roxbury VA Medical Center; Harvard Program in Psychiatric Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Mass., USA
S. L. Santangelo
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Division of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics, Brockton-West Roxbury VA Medical Center; Harvard Program in Psychiatric Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Mass., USA
J. Simpson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Division of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics, Brockton-West Roxbury VA Medical Center; Harvard Program in Psychiatric Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Mass., USA
M. T. Tsuang
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Division of Psychiatric Epidemiology and Genetics, Brockton-West Roxbury VA Medical Center; Harvard Program in Psychiatric Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Mass., USA
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Jill M. Goldstein, Psychiatry Service (116A), Brockton VA Medical Center, 940 Belmont Street, Brockton, MA 02401, USA.
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Synopsis

The effect of gender on mortality was explored for a sample of DSM-III diagnosed schizophrenics followed for up to 42 years. The data for 332 cases and 304 matched normal controls were from the retrospective cohort family studies, the Iowa 500 and non-500. Survival analysis and Cox regression models were used to test the effects of gender, illness status and their interaction on the risks for natural and unnatural deaths. The control men experienced significantly more unnatural deaths than the control women, which was not found for schizophrenic men and women. The unnatural death rate among schizophrenic women was similar to the rate for schizophrenic and control men, and significantly higher than for control women during the early phase of the illness. Findings suggest that some factors that predict suicide may be similar for schizophrenic women and men.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , November 1993 , pp. 941 - 948
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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