Exploration of Medicine

Table 1. Oestrogen protection hypothesis of schizophrenia

Evidence	Outcomes	Findings
Epidemiological studies	Incidence of schizophrenia in women and men	Peak of incidence earlier in men than women [3, 4] Second peak of incidence in women at menopause [19]
Clinical studies	Hormonal status and psychopathological symptoms	Low levels of oestrogens associated with more severe psychotic symptoms [5, 19, 20]
Clinical studies	Hormonal status and cognitive symptoms	Menstrual cycle irregularity associated with cognitive impairment [24]
Clinical trials	Administration of exogenous oestrogens	Positive effects of oestrogens on clinical symptoms [5]

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Declarations

Author contributions

AGR and JC: Conceptualization, Data curation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing. MVS: Conceptualization, Data curation, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing, Supervision.

Conflicts of interest

AGR has received registrations for congresses or travel funds from Janssen Global Services, Lundbeck, Otsuka Pharmaceutical, and Angelini Pharma, and honoraria for lectures from Lundbeck and Otsuka.

Ethical approval

Not applicable.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent to publication

Not applicable.

Availability of data and materials

Not applicable.

Funding

Not applicable.

Copyright

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