What are the most common dangers associated with schizophrenia?
With schizophrenia, people will often have trouble with maintaining relationships and maintaining successful long-term work. It's very important to realise that the degree of symptom severity can vary widely in this disorder, and there are a lot of patients with schizophrenia who with treatment can actually achieve a very high level of functioning; they can marry, they can be a parent, and they can work. However, at the other end of the spectrum, we have people that have a lot of difficulty even being able to maintain independent living and often will require a living setting that's structured and supervised, and in which a lot of the basic needs are provided to them. There are a number of other dangers that are relevant to schizophrenia; among them is suicide. A significant proportion of patients with schizophrenia, about 15%, will eventually commit suicide. Schizophrenia can also have an impact on overall physical health. We know that patients with schizophrenia tend to have poorer nutrition, they tend to be at higher risk for developing substance abuse, and they are less aware of the need to take care of their physical health, that is, the usual preventive health care measures. So, in patients with schizophrenia we see a much higher rate of coronary artery disease and diabetes, and in fact patients with schizophrenia have an average 10-year shorter life span compared to other people.
