Schizophrenic patients: physical health and access to somatic care.

This study concerns the state of physical health and the availability of somatic care for 3,470 adult patients diagnosed as schizophrenic according to the research criteria established by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10 F20) and treated in public institutions. These institutions volunteered to participate in the study, whereas the patients were selected at random. Data concerning demographic characteristics, physical health, and access to somatic care are compared to that of a public health survey of a sample of the French population. The present study allows the estimation of ratios for a large number of diseases and of some risk factors among the target group. Heavy smokers and overweight individuals are more numerous among schizophrenics. Pathologies such as epilepsy, diabetes and AIDS infection are overrepresented. Patients' access to somatic care is more prevalent than that of the general population overall, similar to that of the less qualified workers or unemployed group. In this study, gender does not appear to allow prediction of care use for schizophrenics in contrast to the general population.