When does schizophrenia start and who gets it?

Psychotic symptoms (such as hallucinations and delusions) usually emerge in men in their late teens and early twenties and in women in their mid-twenties to early thirties. They seldom occur after age 45 and only rarely before puberty, although cases of schizophrenia in children as young as five have been reported. In adolescents, the first signs can include a change of friends, a drop in grades, sleep problems, and irritability. Since many normal adolescents exhibit these behaviours as well, a diagnosis can be difficult to make at this stage. In young people who go on to develop the disease, this is called the "prodromal" period.

Research has shown that schizophrenia affects men and women equally and occurs at similar rates in all ethnic groups around the world.

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