Gender's Role in Persistent Delusional Disorders

Recently published resultsfrom the Halle Delusional Syndrome (HADES) study show no differences in the frequency of delusional disorder (DD) between the sexes, but do reveal other gender differences. For the 14-year study, patients fulfilling the DSM-IV/ICD-10 criteria of delusional disorder/persistent DD were followed for an average 10.8 years.

Gender differences that did exist include the following:

• Women became ill significantly later than men
• Almost all women had a stable diagnosis, while men did not
• A great majority of women had unremitted DD at the end of follow-up
• Women had low social functioning at admission more frequently than men
• Women were more compliant with and more frequently received drug therapy
• Men more frequently tended to change into schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder

Review the article published in the European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience for more.