Prevalence of Schizophrenia among Patients Admitted Into a Nigeria Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital

Background: Schizophrenia is a disabling group of brain disorders characterized by symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, disorganized communication, poor planning, reduced motivation and blunted affect The incidence of Schizophrenia has been reported to vary with race and ethnicity. The prevalence of Schizophrenia was said to be lower in developing countries compared to developed countries but a better outcome of Schizophrenia has been recorded in developed countries and the incidence of Schizophrenia in urban areas has been found to be higher than rural areas. This study, a retrospective one that was conducted to assess the prevalence of schizophrenia among patients admitted into Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Rumuigbo, Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria between January 2005 and December 2009. Methods: This study is a retrospective one where the case files of the patients involved were collected at the Medical Records Department of the hospital to generate the needed data. Simple Percentages and tables were used for analysis of the data collected Result: The study revealed that on the average 58.19% of the patients admitted between the study period were Schizophrenic patients.