‘Middle England’ faces lowest psychosis risk

The risk of developing a psychotic disorder such as schizophrenia is highest for young people, men, ethnic minorities and people living in urban areas and poorer neighbourhoods, finds a new study by UCL and the University of Cambridge. The research, funded by Wellcome and published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, suggests that a reduced risk of developing psychosis can be added to the list of social, economic and health advantages enjoyed by more affluent, older white British people living in rural England; a group typically known as 'Middle England'. The most common disorder associated with psychosis is schizophrenia but the term encompasses several conditions that leads to a detachment from reality, often manifesting in delusions and/or hallucinations. Researchers identified 687 young people, aged 16-35 years old, who experienced their first psychotic episode from a population of over 600,000 people living in East Anglia over a 3.5 year study. On average, approximately three in every 10,000 people developed a new psychosis every year, although the rates varied significantly depending on personal circumstances. People who lived in more urban and deprived communities were 40%-100% more likely to experience their first episode of psychosis than people from the most rural and wealthy regions. Risk was also 35% higher in black and minority ethnic groups than the white British population.