•Medscape: Your
publications make reference to the difference in outcome of schizophrenia in less developed societies
compared with industrialized
societies. What does the research indicate?
•
•Dr. Fisher:
The evidence is from 2 studies by the World Health Organization (WHO), one in 1979 and the second in 1992, comparing the recovery rate, mostly from schizophrenia,
in developing countries
with the recovery rate in industrialized countries. In 1979, WHO had about 1800 cases validated
by Western diagnostic
criteria in developing counties matched with controls from industrialized countries, and they found
that the recovery rate was
roughly twice as high in the developing countries compared with the industrialized.[4] They were so
surprised by this that they
said, "Well, this must be a big mistake." So they repeated the study in 1992, and they got the same results.[5]