Kiliçaslan Esin Evren, Erol Almila, Zengin Burçak, Çetinay Aydin Pınar, Mete Levent
İzmir Atatürk Training and Research Hospital, Clinic of Psychiatry, İzmir, Turkey.
Şifa University Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, İzmir, Turkey.
Noro Psikiyatr Ars. 2014 Sep;51(3):211-215. doi: 10.4274/npa.y6675. Epub 2014 Sep 1.
Increasing evidence from clinical practice, as well as from epidemiological and basic research shows that there are gender differences in clinical features of schizophrenia, and this may be related to estrogens. There may be a relationship between earlier puberty and later onset of the disease, because of the protective effects of estrogens in women with schizophrenia. In this study, our aim was to analyze the correlation between age of menarche and age of onset of schizophrenia and to investigate the protective effects of estrogens in schizophrenia.
In this study, we included 289 patients who were diagnosed with schizophrenia. Those with mental deficiency or organic brain disorders were excluded from the study. All subjects were given a socio-demographic form to determine their personal information, age at menarche, age at first odd behavior, age at onset of the disease and first hospitalization. Data on factors which may affect the association between age at onset of schizophrenia and age at menarche such as family history, head or birth trauma etc. were recorded on the information form.
We found out that age at menarche was negatively associated with age at first odd behavior and age at first psychotic symptoms.
Our study verifies the protective effects of estrogens and shows that the earlier puberty may be the cause of later onset of schizophrenia. A gender-sensitive approach in psychiatry improves our understanding of mental illness and our therapeutic strategies.
临床实践、流行病学及基础研究的证据不断增加，表明精神分裂症的临床特征存在性别差异，这可能与雌激素有关。由于雌激素对精神分裂症女性具有保护作用，青春期提前与疾病发病较晚之间可能存在关联。在本研究中，我们旨在分析初潮年龄与精神分裂症发病年龄之间的相关性，并研究雌激素对精神分裂症的保护作用。
在本研究中，我们纳入了289例被诊断为精神分裂症的患者。排除有智力缺陷或器质性脑疾病的患者。所有受试者均填写一份社会人口学表格，以确定其个人信息、初潮年龄、首次出现怪异行为的年龄、疾病发病年龄及首次住院时间。可能影响精神分裂症发病年龄与初潮年龄之间关联的因素，如家族史、头部或出生时的创伤等，相关数据记录在信息表格上。
我们发现初潮年龄与首次出现怪异行为的年龄及首次出现精神病性症状的年龄呈负相关。
我们的研究证实了雌激素的保护作用，并表明青春期提前可能是精神分裂症发病较晚的原因。精神病学中对性别敏感的方法有助于提高我们对精神疾病的理解及治疗策略。
