About Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a chronic, progressive and severely debilitating mental disorder that affects how one thinks, feels and acts.3 Patients experience an array of symptoms, which may include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech or behavior and impaired cognitive ability.3,4,5 Approximately 1% of the world’s population will develop schizophrenia in their lifetime, and 3.5 million people in the U.S. are currently diagnosed with the condition.4,5 Although schizophrenia can occur at any age, the average age of onset tends to be in the late teens to the early 20s for men, and the late 20s to early 30s for women.5 The long-term course of schizophrenia is marked by episodes of partial or full remission broken by relapses that often occur in the context of psychiatric emergency and require hospitalization.5 Approximately 80% of patients experience multiple relapses over the first five years of treatment, and each relapse carries a biological risk of loss of function, treatment refractoriness, and changes in brain morphology.6,7,8 Patients are often unaware of their illness and its consequences, contributing to treatment nonadherence, high discontinuation rates, and ultimately, significant direct and indirect healthcare costs from subsequent relapses and hospitalizations.3,4,5,6,7,8
