[Comparative age aspect of studies of schizophrenia in children and adolescents]

Questions of a comparative age-associated approach to the study of schizophrenia in children and adolescents are discussed. The nosological unity of childhood and adolescent schizophrenia with that of adults is emphasized. Age-associated modification of schizophrenia in children and adolescents with respect to epidemiological data, psychopathological differences and the forms of the disease course are considered. Special attention is drawn to the typical combination of symptoms of genuine schizophrenic defect in childhood schizophrenia with the signs of disorders of development emerging due to the schizophrenic process. Differential-diagnostic criteria for childhood and adolescent schizophrenia are given, depending upon the age of onset and disease course.