Study of Relapses in Schizophrenia Using the Life Table Method

The life table has been used to study mortality and survival in a population and also the pattern of course of various chronic medical illnesses. In this study, the life table has been applied to a cohort of well defined Schizophrenic patients undergoing a long term followup. The probability of occurence of relapses, time of maximum risk for occurence of relapses are estimated using the life table technique. The life table shows a steep fall in the percentage of Non-relapsers from 85% at the end of first year to 35% at the end of the third year. Projected survival rate at the end of 5 years, using the second degree parabola curve, is only 2 % which needs to be tested by further followup.