Hallucinations in the acute schizophrenic-type psychosis: effects of gender and age of illness onset.

Our objective was to test the hypothesis that gender, the age of illness onset, or the interaction between these two variables, would distinguish acutely ill schizophrenic and schizoaffective patients who hallucinated from those who did not. Hallucinatory experiences were measured by the hallucination item of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale in a sample of 160 drug-free inpatients admitted for the treatment of an acute episode. Patients were categorized as either non-hallucinators or hallucinators. An additional analysis included only those who had 'severe' hallucinations (i.e., score > or = 5). Female gender, but not age of onset, predicted a higher frequency of hallucinations (irrespective of degree of severity) in the total sample, but specifically in the schizophrenic patients. These results indicate that there may be gender differences in the propensity to experience hallucinations during the acute schizophrenic episode.