Prognostic implications of the sex of schizophrenic patients.

In two follow-up studies of a total of 175 patients, carried out approximately eight years after first hospitalization, men were under hospital care more often and for more prolonged periods than women, but used outpatient services less. At the end there were only small differences in clinical condition between the sexes, but social condition, as depicted by social adjustment, psychosexual situation and work adjustment, was clearly poorer in men than in women. This was perhaps a reflection of the men's poorer premorbid psychosocial development and social role. The differences between the sexes in the prognosis for schizophrenia are considered.