Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (Jul 2022)

Gender Differences in Psychiatric Symptoms and the Social Functioning of 610 Patients with Schizophrenia in Urban China: A 10-Year Follow-Up Study

  • Zhao J,
  • Diao J,
  • Li X,
  • Yang Y,
  • Yao Y,
  • Shi S,
  • Yuan X,
  • Liu H,
  • Zhang K

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 18
pp. 1545 – 1551

Abstract

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Jintao Zhao,1,2,* Jian Diao,1,2,* Xiaoyue Li,1,2,* Yating Yang,1,2 Yitan Yao,1,2 Shengya Shi,1,2 Xiaoping Yuan,1,2 Huanzhong Liu,1,2 Kai Zhang1,2 1Department of Psychiatry, Chaohu Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People’s Republic of China; 2Anhui Psychiatric Center, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Kai Zhang; Huanzhong Liu, Department of Psychiatry, Chaohu Hospital of Anhui Medical University, No. 64 North Chaohu Road, Chaohu City, Hefei, 238000, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: To explore the different outcomes between male and female patients with schizophrenia after long-term follow-up.Patients and Methods: Schizophrenia patients were participants in our study. First, two senior psychiatrists collected data on the demographic characteristics and clinical symptoms of patients from the Hospital Information System between February 2009 and January 2010. Second, two other senior psychiatrists called the patients and their guardians between February 2019 and January 2020 to get general information on the patients and assess their psychiatric symptoms and social functioning using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Personal and Social Performance (PSP) scale.Results: Of the 610 participants, the 306 female participants were younger (48.32 ± 12.99 vs 49.84 ± 12.60) and had received more education (8.08 ± 3.76 vs 7.94 ± 3 0.73). After 10 years, women were found to have more outpatient visits than men (20.86 ± 22.21 vs 16.11 ± 16.87, P 0.05). The PANSS scores were lower for both groups at the 10-year follow-up. Women had significantly lower scores than men after the 10-year period (P 0.05).Conclusion: Female patients had significantly lower levels of psychiatric symptoms and higher levels of social functioning at 10-year follow-up than male patients. They also reported more outpatient visits, which may have contributed to the gender differences in outcomes. Family members and doctors of patients should urge patients to make regular outpatient visits for better outcomes after hospitalization.Keywords: mental illness, psychiatry, health outcomes, neuropsychiatric

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