SCHIZOPHRENIA now directly affects up to 1 per cent of the population and accounts for 21 per cent of all admissions to psychiatric hospitals, a conference on the illness heard in Cork at the weekend.
Mr Sean Hurley, chief executive officer of the Southern Health Board, told the conference that it constituted a significant cost to the health service, both directly and indirectly. It was a major cause of morbidity and a feature of premature mortality, he said.
Dr Michael Kelleher, of the Suicide Research Foundation, said that tragedies would continue if essential supports for the illness were not put in place. "It has been estimated that about 1 per cent of the population in Ireland die by suicide each year," he said. "If a person suffers from schizophrenia, the chances increase to at least 10 times this."
"Better drugs, better individual support, better community services, better rehabilitation and occupational opportunities are each likely to contribute to a reduction in morbidity and an improvement in mortality rates, in which suicide is the commonest cause of dying," he said.
The conference was hosted by the support organisation Schizophrenia Ireland.