Review article

Neuropsychopharmacology and the genetics of schizophrenia

A history of the diagnosis of schizophrenia

Thomas A. Ban

Department of Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

Accepted 10 May 2004 - Available online 25 July 2004

3. Epidemiology

The differences in the diagnostic concepts of schizophrenia are reflected in findings in epidemiologic studies. In 1925, schizophrenic admission rates to psychiatric clinics varied from 9.4% of all admissions at the University of Frankfurt (Germany), through 19.6% at the University of Munich (Germany), to 43.2% at the University of Zurich (Switzerland) (Hamilton, 1976). In the pooled data of 19 studies from six countries, the mean prevalence rate of schizophrenia in the general population was 0.85%, with a prevalence rate of 0.42% in Germany, 1.25% in Sweden, and 2.38% in Switzerland (Zerbin-Rudin, 1967). In the DSM-IV of the American Psychiatric Association (1994), the estimated lifetime prevalence of schizophrenia is between 0.5% and 1% with estimates ranging from 0.2% to 2%.