Gender difference in age at onset of Schizophrenia: a cross sectional study from Pakistan

Objective: to validate the effect of gender on age at onset of schizophrenia in a developing country. methods: medical records of 252 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia according to dsm-iv criteria at a tertiary care hospital in karachi, pakistan between 2002 and 2008 were reviewed using a structured questionnaire. age at onset was defined as age at onset of psychotic symptoms, age at first contact with a health care provider and age at first hospitalization. socio-demographic variables were reported using descriptive statistics and all measures of age at onset were compared across gender using t-test. results: there were 119 women and 133 men with mean age of 37.6 ± 12.8 years. all three measures of age at onset of illness showed no difference between women and men. the mean age when first psychotic symptoms appeared in men was 24.86 ± 8.83 years (n=128) while that in women was 26.57 ± 9.96 years (n=111), p=0.160. the mean age at index hospitalization for treatment of psychosis in men was 29.50 ± 10.64 years (n=123) and in women was 31.61 ± 12.07 years (n=103), p=0.164. the mean age at first contact with any caregiver in men was 29.73 ± 37.58 years (n=119) and in women was 29.38 ± 11.99 years (n=108), p=0.926. conclusion: there is no significant difference in age at onset of schizophrenia across gender in our population. this validates a difference in epidemiology of schizophrenia in the south asian population.