title: ABC Schizophrenia study: an overview of results since 1996.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The ABC Schizophrenia study, led by a single research team, investigated a schizophrenia sample systematically over quarter of a century. This paper summarises results from 1996 onwards. The initial goals were to explain the considerably higher age at first admission in women, and to obtain precise information on the onset and early course of schizophrenia as a prerequisite for early intervention.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was hypothesis-driven. People with schizophrenia were compared in the prodrome and at first admission to those with unipolar depression and to healthy controls. We analysed the medium-term (5-year) and the long-term (12-year) course of schizophrenia, its symptom dimensions, social parameters and predictors.
  
  
  METHODS
  (1) 276 population-based first admissions (232 first episodes) of schizophrenia (age range 12-59 years); (2) a subsample of 130 first admissions for schizophrenia; (3) 130 first admissions for unipolar depression; (4) 130 healthy population controls and (5) 1,109 consecutive first admissions for schizophrenia spectrum disorder without an age limit.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prodromal stages of schizophrenia and depression were very similar until positive symptoms appeared. The most frequent symptom in schizophrenia was depressed mood. The course of psychosis from prodrome to 12 years following first admission was very variable. From 5 to 12 years after first admission the course was characterised by irregular exacerbations of the main symptom dimensions, with no overall deterioration or improvement.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Schizophrenic psychosis and severe affective disorder, rather than representing discrete illnesses, probably mark different stages in the manifestation of psychopathology produced by various degrees of brain dysfunction.
authors: The Schizophrenia Research Group, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim Faculty of Medicine/University of Heidelberg, J5, 68159, Mannheim, Germany. heinz.haefner@zi-mannheim.de
authors: H
authors: H
authors: Häfner
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Maurer
authors: W
authors: W
authors: an der Heiden
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D062706:Prodromal Symptoms; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult
references: Nervenarzt. 2006 Jul;77(7):809-22
references: 15933845
references: J Abnorm Psychol. 1977 Apr;86(2):103-26
references: 858828
references: Psychol Med. 2001 Apr;31(3):381-400
references: 11305847
references: Br J Psychiatry. 1987 Aug;151:145-51
references: 3690102
references: Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1995 Jul;30(4):161-4
references: 7491511
references: Schizophr Bull. 1998;24(1):99-113
references: 9502549
references: Br J Psychiatry Suppl. 1998;172(33):84-9
references: 9764132
references: Schizophr Res. 2012 Jan;134(1):20-6
references: 21937197
references: Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1995 May;52(5):352-60
references: 7726715
references: Psychol Med. 1998 Mar;28(2):351-65
references: 9572092
references: Psychol Med. 1987 Feb;17(1):49-57
references: 3575577
references: Psychol Med Monogr Suppl. 1989;15:1-46
references: 2798648
references: Schizophr Bull. 1996;22(2):305-26
references: 8782288
references: Br J Psychiatry. 1990 Oct;157:558-61
references: 2131138
references: World Psychiatry. 2006 Oct;5(3):130-8
references: 17139339
references: Acta Psychiatr Scand. 1999 Aug;100(2):105-18
references: 10480196
references: Schizophr Res. 2005 Sep 1;77(1):11-24
references: 16005381
references: Am J Epidemiol. 2002 Aug 15;156(4):319-27
references: 12181101
references: Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 1993 Sep;27(3):374-8
references: 8250779
references: Br J Psychiatry. 2004 Feb;184:110-7
references: 14754822
references: Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1998 Aug;33(8):380-6
references: 9708025
references: Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 1992;242(2-3):109-18
references: 1486099
references: Soc Sci Med. 1999 Jul;49(1):93-108
references: 10414843
references: Am J Psychiatry. 1992 Sep;149(9):1183-8
references: 1503130
references: Nervenarzt. 2001 May;72(5):347-57
references: 11386145
references: Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2005 Jun;255(3):174-84
references: 15995901
references: Schizophr Bull. 1984;10(2):300-12
references: 6729414
references: Schizophr Res. 2000 Jul 7;44(1):81-93
references: 10867314
references: BMJ. 2002 Nov 23;325(7374):1199
references: 12446534
references: Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2008 Jun;258 Suppl 2:85-96
references: 18516520
references: Z Kinder Jugendpsychiatr Psychother. 1997 Dec;25(4):218-33
references: 9476342
references: Schizophr Bull. 2009 Mar;35(2):383-402
references: 19011234
references: Br J Psychiatry. 1983 Feb;142:145-51
references: 6839067
references: BMC Med. 2004 Apr 28;2:13
references: 15115547
references: Psychiatry Res. 2003 Jan 25;117(1):47-56
references: 12581820
references: Nervenarzt. 1999 May;70(5):416-29
references: 10407837
references: Schizophr Res. 2002 Apr 1;54(3):243-51
references: 11950549
references: Schizophr Bull. 2003;29(2):325-40
references: 14552507