Schizophrenia: the facts

• Schizophrenia affects about 24 million people worldwide.

• Symptoms most commonly appear during late adolescence and early adulthood.

• Typical signs include poor personal hygiene, loss of cognitive control such as memory, poor concentration and attention, emotional outbursts, social awkwardness and withdrawal, depression, sleep disturbances and unintelligible speech.

• Treatment for schizophrenia is more effective in its initial stage.

• Schizophrenia runs in families. It occurs in less than 1 per cent of the general population, but in 10 per cent of people who have a first-degree relative, such as a parent or sibling, with the disorder.

• People who have second-degree relatives (such as grandparents or cousins) with the disease also develop it more often than the general population. Risk is highest for an identical twin of a person with schizophrenia. They have a 40 to 65 per cent chance of developing the disorder.

• Average life expectancy of people with the disorder is 12 to 15 years less than those without. This is the result of increased physical problems and a higher suicide rate.

• More than 50 per cent of people with schizophrenia are not receiving appropriate care.

90 per cent of people with untreated schizophrenia are in developing countries.

* Jennifer Bell, with additional information from the World Health Organisation and the National Institute of Mental Health