Prevalence of schizophrenia disability and associated mortality among Chinese men and women

Schizophrenia is a major cause of psychiatric disability in China. In the present study, we estimated total and age-specific prevalence of both schizophrenia disability and associated mortality among Chinese women and men. We further examined whether sex differences in prevalence were attributable to mortality differences between men and women. Data from the Second China National Sample Survey on Disability (2006) and the 2007-2010 follow-up studies were utilized. Possibly psychiatrically disabled individuals were administered the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule, Version II and the ICD-10 Symptom Checklist for Mental Disorders by trained clinical psychiatrists. In total, 0.37% of men and 0.44% of women were living with schizophrenia disability in China. We did not find statistically significant differences in the 4-year cumulative mortality between men and women. Overall standardized mortality ratios for the age groups of 18-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, and 70+ years were 120.89, 29.56, 15.06, 9.16, 10.57, and 4.95, respectively. In conclusion, mortality differences between men and women were unlikely to be a major contributor to sex differences in prevalence. Premature death among younger individuals experiencing schizophrenia disability warrants urgent attention.