Understanding gender differences in Schizophrenia: A review of the literature

Current Psychiatry Reviews

Volumn 2, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 255-265

  Taylor, Rachel ^a   Langdon, Robyn ^a,b,c  

^a MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^b SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE   (Australia)

^c Neuroscience Institute for Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders ^*  (Australia)

Author keywords

Estrogen; Gender differences; Schizophrenia

Indexed keywords

APOMORPHINE; CHLORPROMAZINE; DOPAMINE; DOPAMINE RECEPTOR; DOPAMINE RECEPTOR BLOCKING AGENT; DOPAMINE RECEPTOR STIMULATING AGENT; ESTRADIOL; ESTROGEN; ESTROGEN RECEPTOR; HALOPERIDOL; NEUROLEPTIC AGENT; NEUROTRANSMITTER RECEPTOR; PROGESTERONE; STEROID HORMONE; SULPIRIDE; TESTOSTERONE;

BRAIN DEVELOPMENT; BRAIN DISEASE; CLINICAL TRIAL; DISEASE COURSE; DISEASE PREDISPOSITION; DISEASE SEVERITY; DOPAMINERGIC ACTIVITY; DRUG POTENTIATION; DRUG RECEPTOR BINDING; ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR; HEMISPHERIC DOMINANCE; HEREDITY; HORMONE INHIBITION; HUMAN; MEDICAL LITERATURE; MENTAL DISEASE; NEUROBIOLOGY; NEUROPATHOLOGY; NEUROPROTECTION; NONHUMAN; ONSET AGE; PHENOMENOLOGY; PRIORITY JOURNAL; PSYCHOSIS; REVIEW; SCHIZOPHRENIA; SEX DIFFERENCE; SYMPTOMATOLOGY; THEORETICAL STUDY;

EID: 33745823136     PISSN: 15734005     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2174/157340006776875987     Document Type: Review

References (105)

1. Lewis DA, Lieberman JA. Catching up on schizophrenia: natural history and neurobiology. Neuron 2000; 28: 325-334.
2. Andreasen NC. Symptoms, signs and diagnosis of schizophrenia. Lancet 1995; 346: 477-481.
3. Andreasen NC. Understanding the causes of schizophrenia. N Engl J Med 1999; 340: 645-647.
4. Canuso CM, Goldstein JM, Green AI. The evaluation of women with schizophrenia. Psychopharmacol Bull 1998; 34: 271-277.
5. Angermeyer MC, Kuhn L, Goldstein JM. Gender and the course of schizophrenia: differences in treated outcomes. Schizophr Bull 1990; 16: 293-307.
6. Castle DJ, Sham P, Murray RM. Differences in distribution of ages of onset in males and females with schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 1998; 33: 179-183.
7. Goldstein JM. Gender differences in the course of schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 1988; 145: 684-689.
8. Nopoulos P, Flaum M, Andreasen NC. Sex differences in brain morphology in schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 1997; 154: 1648-1654.
9. Hafner H. Gender differences in schizophrenia. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2003; 28: 17-54.
10. Halbreich U, Kahn LS. Hormonal aspects of schizophrenias: an overview. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2003; 28: 1-16.
11. Faraone SV, Chen WJ, Goldstein JM, Tsuang MT. Gender differences in age at onset of schizophrenia. Br J Psychiatry 1994; 164: 625-629.
12. Riecher-Rossler A, Hafner H, Stumbaum M, Maurer K, Schmidt R. Can estradiol modulate schizophrenic symptomatology? Schizophr Bull 1994; 20: 203-214.
13. Andreoli SB, Gastal FL, Leite SO, Welham J, McGrath J. Age-at-first-registration in schizophrenia: a comparison of mental health registers from Australia and Brazil. Schizophr Res 2002; 54: 277-279.
14. Jablensky A, Cole S. Is the earlier age at onset of schizophrenia in males a confounding finding? Results from a cross-cultural investigation. Br J Psychiatry 1997; 170: 234-240.
15. Ring N, Tantam D, Montague L, Newby D, Black D, Morris J. Gender differences in the incidence of definite schizophrenia and atypical psychosis - focus on negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1991; 84: 489-496.
16. Szymanski S, Lieberman JA, Alvir JM, et al. Gender differences in onset of illness, treatment response, course, and biologic indexes in first-episode schizophrenic patients. Am J Psychiatry 1995; 152: 698-703.
17. Marneros, A. Frequency of occurrence of Schneider's first rank symptoms in Schizophrenia. Eur Arch Psychiatry Neurol Sci 1984; 234: 78-82.
18. Rector NA, Seeman MV. Auditory hallucinations in women and men. Schizophr Res 1992; 7: 233-236.
19. Bardenstein KK, McGlashen TH. Gender differences in affective, schizoaffective, and schizophrenic disorders. Schizophr Res 1990; 3: 159-172.
20. Seeman MV. Psychopathology in women and men: focus on female hormones. Am J Psychiatry 1997; 154: 1641-1647.
21. Leung A, Chue P. Sex differences in schizophrenia, a review of the literature. Acta Psychiatr Scand Suppl. 2000; 401: 3-38.
22. Andia AM, Zisook S, Heaton RK. Gender differences in schizophrenia. J Nerv Ment Dis 1995; 183: 522-528.
23. Seeman MV. Current outcome in schizophrenia: women vs men. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1986; 73: 609-617.
24. Ashe PC, Berry MD, Boulton AA. Schizophrenia, a neurodegenerative disorder with neurodevelopmental antecedents. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2001; 25: 691-707.
25. Lewis DA, Levitt P. Schizophrenia as a disorder of neurodevelopment. Annu Rev Neurosci 2002; 25: 409-432.
26. Woods BT. Is schizophrenia a progressive neurodevelopmental. disorder? Toward a unitary pathogenetic mechanism. Am J Psychiatry 1998; 155: 1661-1670.
27. Castle DJ, Murray RM. The neurodevelopmental basis of sex differences in schizophrenia. Psychol Med 1991; 21: 565-575.
28. McDonald C, Murray RM. Early and late environmental risk factors for schizophrenia. Brain Res Brain Res Rev 2000; 31: 130-137.
29. McGrath J. Universal interventions for the primary prevention of schizophrenia. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 2000; 34: S58-S64.
30. Mortensen PB, Pedersen CB, Westergaard T, et al. Effects of family history and place and season of birth on the risk of schizophrenia. N Engl J Med 1999; 340: 603-608.
31. Sanders AR, Gejman PV. Influential ideas and experimental progress in schizophrenia genetics research. JAMA 2001; 285: 2831-2833.
32. Lieberman JA. Is schizophrenia a neurodegenerative disorder? A clinical and neurobiological perspective. Biol Psychiatry 1999; 46: 729-739.
33. Feinberg I. Schizophrenia: caused by a fault in programmed synaptic elimination during adolescence. J Psychiatr Res 1983; 17:319-334.
34. McGlashan TH, Hoffman RE. Schizophrenia as a disorder of developmentally reduced synaptic connectivity. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2000; 57: 637-648.
35. Keshavan MS. Development, disease and degeneration in schizophrenia: a unitary pathophysiological model. J Psychiatr Res 1999; 33: 513-521.
36. Eastwood SL, Harrison PJ. Hippocampal and cortical growth-associated protein-43 messenger RNA in schizophrenia. Neuroscience 1998; 86: 437-448.
37. Harrison PJ, Eastwood SL. Preferential involvement of excitatory neurons in medial temporal lobe in schizophrenia. Lancet 1998; 352: 1669-1673.
38. Karson CN, Mrak RE, Schluterman KO, Sturner WQ, Sheng JG, Griffin WS. Alterations in synaptic proteins and their encoding mRNA's in prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia: a possible neurochemical basis for 'hypofrontality'. Mol Psychiatry 1994; 4: 39-45.
39. Albus M, Scherer J, Hueber S, et al. The impact of familial loading on gender differences in age at onset of schizophrenia. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1994; 89: 132-134.
40. Gorwood P, Leboyer M, Jay M, Payan C, Feingold J. Gender and age at onset in schizophrenia: impact of family history. Am J Psychiatry 1995; 15: 208-212.
41. Konnecke R, Hafner H, Maurer K, Loffler W, an der Heiden W. Main risk factors for schizophrenia: increased familial loading and pre- and peri-natal complications antagonize the protective effect of oestrogen in women. Schizophr Res 2000; 44: 81-93.
42. Tsuang MT, Stone WS, Faraone SV. Toward reformulating the diagnosis of schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 2000; 157: 1041-1050.
43. Castle DJ, Abel K, Takei N, Murray RM. Gender differences in schizophrenia: hormonal effect or subtypes? Schizophr Bul 1995; 21: 1-12.
44. Murray RM, O'Callaghan E, Castle DJ, Lewis SW. A neurodevelopmental approach to the classification of schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 1992; 18: 319-332.
45. Weinberger DR. From neuropathology to neurodevelopment. Lancet 1995; 346: 552-557.
46. Hultman CM, Sparen P, Takei N, Murray RM, Cnattingius S. Prenatal and perinatal risk factors for schizophrenia, affective psychosis, and reactive psychosis of early onset: case-control study. BMJ 1999; 318: 421-426.
47. Verdoux H, Geddes JR, Takei N, et al. Obsteric complications and age at onset in schizophrenia: An international collaborative meta-analysis of individual patient data. Am J Psychiatry 1997; 154: 1220-1227.
48. Alda M, Ahrens B, Lit W, et al. Age of onset in familial and sporadic schizophrenia. Acta Psychiatr Scand 1996; 93: 447-450.
49. Hafner H, an der Heiden W. Epidemiology of schizophrenia. Can J Psychiatry 1997; 42: 139-151.
50. Kirov G, Jones PB, Harvey I, et al. Do obstetric complications cause the earlier age at onset in male than female schizophrenics? Schizophr Res 1996; 20: 117-124.
51. Zornberg GL, Buka SL, Tsuang MT. At issue: The problem of obstetrical complications and schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 2000; 26: 249-252.
52. Wong AHC, Van Tol HHM. Schizophrenia: from phenomenology to neurobiology. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2003; 27: 269-306.
53. Geddes JR, Lawrie SM. Obstetric complications and schizophrenia: A meta-analysis. Br J Psychiatry 1995; 167: 786-793.
54. Verdoux H, Sutter AL. Perinatal risk factors for schizophrenia: diagnostic specificity and relationships with maternal psychopathology. Am J Med Genet 2002; 114: 898-905.
55. Keshavan MS, Anderson S, Pettegrew JW. Is schizophrenia due to excessive synaptic pruning in the prefrontal cortex? The Feinberg hypothesis revisited. J Psychiatr Res 1994; 28: 239-265.
56. Hoffman RE, McGlashan TH. Synaptic elimination, neurodevelopment, and the mechanism of hallucinated "voices" in schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 1997; 154: 1683-1689.
57. Arnold AP, Gorski RA. Gonadal steroid induction of structural sex differences in the central nervous system. Annu Rev Neurosci 1984; 7: 413-442.
58. Shenton ME, Dickey CC, Frumin M, McCarley RW. A review of MRI findings in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 2001; 49: 1-52.
59. Andreasen NC, Flashman L, Flaum M, et al. Regional brain abnormalities in schizophrenia measured with magnetic resonance imaging. JAMA 1994; 272: 1763-1769.
60. Bogerts B, Falkai P, Haupts, M, et al. Post-mortem volume measurements of limbic system and basal ganglia structures in chronic schizophrenics. Initial results from a new brain collection. Schizophr Res 1990; 3: 295-301.
61. Flaum M, Arndt S, Andreasen NC. The role of gender in studies of ventricle enlargement in schizophrenia: a predominantly male effect. Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147: 1327-1332.
62. Weinberger DR, McClure RK. Neurotoxicity, neuroplasticity, and magnetic resonance imaging morphometry: what is happening in the schizophrenic brain? Arch Gen Psychiatry 2002; 59: 553-558.
63. James AC, Javaloyes A, James S, Smith DM. Evidence for non-progressive changes in adolescent-onset schizophrenia: follow-up magnetic resonance imaging study. Br J Psychiatry 2002; 180: 339-344.
64. Hoff AL, Sakuma M, Wieneke M, Horon R, Kushner M, DeLisi LE. Longitudinal neuropsychological follow-up study of patients with first-episode schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 1999; 156: 1336-1341.
65. Niu L, Matsui M, Zhou SY, et al. Volume reduction of the amygdala in patients with schizophrenia: a magnetic resonance imaging study. Psychiatry Res 2004; 132: 41-51.
66. Gur RE, Kohler C, Turetsky BI, et al. A sexually dimorphic ratio of orbitofrontal to amygdala volume is altered in schizophrenia Biol Psychiatry 2004; 55: 512-517.
67. Goldstein JM, Seidman, LJ, O'Brien LM, et al. Impact of normal sexual dimorphisms on sex differences in structural brain abnormalities in schizophrenia assessed by magnetic resonance imaging. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2002; 59: 154-164.
68. Hutchison JB, Beyer C, Green S, Wozniak A. Brain formation of oestrogen in the mouse: sex dimorphism in aromatase development. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 1994; 49: 407-415.
69. Heinrichs RW, Zakzanis KK. Neurocognitive deficit in schizophrenia: a quantitative review of the evidence. Neuropsychology 1998; 12: 426-445.
70. Scheller-Gilkey G, Lewine RR. Age at onset and sex differences in corpus callosum area in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 1999; 40: 229-235.
71. Vazquez-Barquero JL, Cuesta Nunez MJ, Quintana Pando F, de la Varga M, Herrera Castanedo S, Dunn G. Structural abnormalities of the brain in schizophrenia: sex differences in the Cantabria First Episode of Schizophrenia Study. Psychol Med 1995; 25: 1247-1257.
72. Lauriello J, Hoff A, Wieneke MH, et al. Similar extent of brain dysmorphology in severely ill women and men with schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 1997; 154: 819-825.
73. Gur RE, Turetsky BI, Cowell PE, et al. Temporolimbic volume reductions in schizophrenia. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2000; 57: 769-775.
74. Sota TL, Heinrichs RW. Sex differences in verbal memory in schizophrenia patients treated with "typical" neuroleptics. Schizophr Res 2002; 62: 175-182.
75. Flor-Henry P. Schizophrenia: sex differences. Can J Psychiatry 1985; 30: 319-322.
76. Flor-Henry P. Influence of gender in schizophrenia as related to other psychopathological syndromes. Schizophr Bull 1990; 16: 211-227.
77. Harrison PJ. The neuropathology of schizophrenia. A critical review of the data and their interpretation. Brain 1999; 122: 593-624.
78. Brown R, Colter N, Corsellis JA, Crow TJ, Frith CD, Jagoe R. Postmortem evidence of structural brain changes in schizophrenia: Differences in brain weight, temporal horn area, and parahippocampal gyrus compared with affective disorder. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1986; 43: 36-42.
79. Crow TJ, Ball J, Bloom SR, Brown R, Bruton CJ. Schizophrenia as an anomoly of development of cerebral asymmetry. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1989; 46: 1145-1150.
80. Crow TJ. Temporal lobe asymmetries as the key to the etiology of schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 1990; 16: 433-443.
81. Crow TJ. Commentary on Annett, Yeo et al. Klar, Saugstad and Orr: Cerebral asymmetry, language and psychosis - the case for a Homo sapiens-specific sex-linked gene for brain growth. Schizophr Res 1999; 39: 219-233.
82. Guerguerian R, Lewine RR. Brain torque and sex differences in schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 1998; 30: 175-181.
83. Behl C, Holsboer F. The female sex hormone oestrogen as a neuroprotectant. Trends Pharmacol Sci 1991; 20: 441-444.
84. Cohen RZ, Seeman MV, Gotowiec A, Kopala L. Earlier puberty as a predictor of later onset of schizophrenia in women. Am J Psychiatry 1999; 156: 1059-1064.
85. Hafner H, Behrens S, De Vry J, Gattaz WF. An animal model for the effects of estradiol on dopamine-mediated behavior: implications for sex differences in schizophrenia. Psychiatry Res 1991; 38: 125-134.
86. Rao ML, Kolsch H. Effects of estrogen on brain development and neuroprotection - implications for negative symptoms in schizophrenia. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2003; 28: 83-96.
87. Hoff AL, Kremen WS, Wieneke MH, et al. Association of estrogen levels with neuropsychological performance in women with schizophrenia. Am J Psychiatry 2001; 158: 1134-1139.
88. Birge SJ, McEwen BS, Wise PM. Effects of estrogen deficiency on brain function. Implications for the treatment of postmenopausal women. Postgrad Med 2001; Spec(No): 11-16.
89. McEwen BS, Alves SE, Bulloch K, Weiland NG. Clinically relevant basic science studies of gender differences and sex hormone effects. Psychopharmacol Bull 1998; 34: 251-259.
90. Beyer C. Estrogen and the developing brain. Anat Embryol, 1999; 199: 379-390.
91. Osterlund MK, Hurd YL. Estrogen receptors in the human forebrain and the relation to neuropsychiatric disorders. Prog Neurobiol 2001; 64: 251-267.
92. Compton J, van Amelsvoort T, Murphy D. Mood, cognition and Alzheimer's disease. Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol 2002; 16: 357-370.
93. Garcia-Segura LM, Azcoitia I, DonCarlos LL. Neuroprotection by estradiol. Prog Neurobiol 2001; 63: 29-60.
94. Hallonquist JD, Seeman MV, Lang M, Rector NA. Variation in symptom severity over the menstrual cycle of schizophrenics. Biol Psychiatry 1993; 33: 207-209.
95. Kulkarni J, Riedel A, de Castella AR, et al. Estrogen - a potential treatment for schizophrenia. Schizophr Res 2001; 48: 137-144.
96. Kulkarni J, de Castella A, Smith D, Taffe J, Keks N, Copolov D. A clinical trial of the effects of estrogen in acutely psychotic women. Schizophr Res 1996; 20: 247-252.
97. Kulkarni J, Riedel A, de Castella AR. A clinical trial of adjunctive oestrogen treatment in women with schizophrenia. Arch Women Ment Health 2002; 5: 99-104.
98. Liao DL, Chen H, Lee SM, Tsai SJ. Estrogen supplementation for female schizophrenics treated with atypical antipsychotics. Gen Hosp Psychiatry 2002; 24: 357-359.
99. Louza MR, Marques AP, Elkis H, Bassitt D, Diegoli M, Gattaz WF. Conjugated estrogens as adjuvant therapy in the treatment of acute schizophrenia: a double-blind study. Schizophr Res 2003; 66: 97-100.
100. Akhondzadeh S, Nejatsafa AA, Amini H, et al. Adjunctive estrogen treatment in women with chronic schizophrenia: a double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled trial. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol 2003; 27: 1007-1012.
101. Huber T, Tettenborn C, Leifke E, Emrich, HM. Sex hormones in psychotic men. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2005; 30: 111-114.
102. Craig MC, Cutter WJ, Wickham H, et al. Effect of long-term estrogen therapy on dopaminergic responsivity in post-menopausal women- a preliminary study. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2004; 29: 1309-1316.
103. Gattaz WF, Vogel P, Riecher-Rossler A, Soddu G. Influence of the menstrual cycle phase on the therapeutic response in schizophrenia. Biol Psychiatry 1994; 36:137-139.
104. Seeman MV. Interaction of sex, age and neuroleptic dose. Compr Psychiatry 1983; 24: 125-128.
105. Salem JE, Kring AM. The role of gender differences in the reduction of etiologic heterogeneity in schizophrenia. Clin Psychol Rev 1998; 18: 795-819.