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Page: Prognosis
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Prognosis for any particular individual affected by schizophrenia is particularly hard to judge as treatment and access to treatment is continually changing, as new methods become available and medical recommendations change.
One retrospective study has shown that about a third of people make a full recovery, about a third show improvement but not a full recovery, and a third remain ill. A more recent study using stricter recovery criteria (i.e. concurrent remission of positive and negative symptoms and specific instances of adequate social / vocational functioning) reported a recovery rate of 13.7%.
The exact definition of what constitutes a recovery has not been widely defined, however, although criteria have recently been suggested to define a remission in symptoms. Therefore, this makes it difficult to give an exact estimate as recovery and remission rates are not always comparable across studies.
The World Health Organization conducted two long-term follow-up studies involving more than 2,000 people suffering from schizophrenia in different countries. These studies' findings were that these patients have much better long-term outcomes in developing countries (India, Colombia and Nigeria) than in developed countries (USA, UK, Ireland, Denmark, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Japan, and Russia), despite the fact antipsychotic drugs are typically not widely available in poorer countries, thus raising questions about the effectiveness of such drug-based treatments.
Prognosis also depends on some other factors. Females tend to show recovery rates higher than males, and acute and sudden onset of schizophrenia is associated with higher rates of recovery, while gradual onset is associated with lower rates. Most studies done on this subject, however, are correlational in nature, and a clear cause-and-effect relationship is difficult to establish. Pre-morbid functioning and positive prognosis also seem to be correlated.
In a study of over 168,000 Swedish citizens undergoing psychiatric treatment, schizophrenia was associated with an average life expectancy of approximately 80-85% of that of the general population. Women with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were found to have a slightly better life expectancy than that of men, and as a whole, a diagnosis of schizophrenia was associated with a better life expectancy than substance abuse, personality disorder, heart attack and stroke.
There is an extremely high suicide rate associated with schizophrenia. A recent study showed that 30% of patients diagnosed with this condition had attempted suicide at least once during their lifetime. Another study suggested that 10% of persons with schizophrenia die by suicide.
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