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Prevalence in males vs. females

What is prevalence of schizophrenia in males vs. females?

Prevalence measures the proportion of individuals who have a disorder at a particular point in time (point prevalence) or during a specified period (annual prevalence, lifetime prevalence) and this may vary across regions. It is distinct from incidence, which refers to how many new cases there are per population in a specified time period. Lifetime prevalence is the number of individuals in a population that at some point in their life have experienced schizophrenia compared to the total number of individuals.

What is the evidence regarding sex differences in prevalence rates of schizophrenia?

Moderate quality evidence found no differences in the overall prevalence of schizophrenia between males and females. There were also similar prevalence rates of any psychotic disorder in male and female adolescents in juvenile detention (2.7% vs. 2.9%). There were similar prevalence rates of schizophrenia in homeless males and females in St Louis and Madrid. However, there were higher prevalence rates of schizophrenia in homeless women than in homeless men in Melbourne, Munich, Baltimore, and Philadelphia.

Please also see the topic on differences in incidence rates of schizophrenia between males and females.

April 2022

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Last updated at: 3:15 pm, 5th April 2022
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Fact Sheet Technical Commentary
Tags:  Sex differences

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