The incidence of schizophrenia in New South Wales, Australia

Abstract

Age-specific estimates of the incidence of schizophrenia in New-South-Wales, Australia, were made using 2 methods, one based on a psychiatric register and the other based on routinely collected hospital morbidity data. Similar results were obtained by both methods. Estimates lie toward the bottom of the range of incidence estimates of schizophrenia that have been published for some other countries and are lower than estimates from a number of USA studies. The diagnostic criteria of schizophrenia employed by Australian psychiatrists conform closely to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III criteria.