Regular Research ArticlesSchizophrenia Spectrum Disorders in Later Life: Prevalence and Distribution of Age at Onset and Sex in a Dutch Catchment Area
Section snippets
Catchment Area Characteristics
The psychiatric catchment area of the southern district of Amsterdam is a geographically well-defined urban area comprising 17.5% of the total Amsterdam population. The district includes a variety of neighborhoods, ranging from lower-class housing to upper-class residences, and is highly urbanized, with a population density of 8,320 inhabitants/km2, compared with 486 inhabitants/km2 for the Netherlands as a whole. On January 1, 2008, 25.631 (19.6%) of the catchment area inhabitants were age 60
Sample Characteristics
Demographic and clinical characteristics of the 183 included patients are listed in Table 2. The median age was 67 years (range: 59–95), while the median age at onset was 34 years (range: 15–88). In 118 patients (64.5%), who provided informed consent for the larger study, diagnosis was confirmed through the diagnostic interview. Sixty-five patients (35.5%) were not able or willing to provide informed consent. In these nonconsenting patients, inclusion diagnosis was confirmed through the
DISCUSSION
In this service-based sample of older patients, the estimated one-year prevalence of schizophrenia including spectrum disorders was 0.71% and the prevalence of schizophrenia alone was 0.55%. Substantial proportions of both patients with schizophrenia including spectrum disorders (38.8%) and patients with schizophrenia alone (36.4%) were age 40 years or older at onset. The estimated prevalence of schizophrenia among women (0.68%; 95% CI: 0.56–0.83) was almost twice as high as the estimated
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The authors thank Wouter van Ewijk for chairing the expert panel, and Peter van de Ven for statistical assistance.
This study was supported by a grant from the “Stichting tot Steun VCVGZ,” which had no further role in the study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the article for publication.
Paul D. Meesters is an unrestricted grant holder with AstraZeneca.