Prevalence of psychotic symptoms in childhood and adolescence: a systematic review and meta-analysis of population-based studies.

Abstract BACKGROUND: Psychotic symptoms occur more frequently in the general population than psychotic disorder and index risk for psychopathology. Multiple studies have reported on the prevalence of these symptoms using self-report questionnaires or clinical interviews but there is a lack of consensus about the prevalence of psychotic symptoms among children and adolescents. METHOD: We conducted a systematic review of all published literature on psychotic symptom prevalence in two age groups, children (aged 9 to 12) and adolescents (aged 13 to 18), searching through electronic databases PUBMED, OVID MEDLINE, PsychINFO and EMBASE up to June 2011, and extracted prevalence rates. RESULTS: We identified 19 population studies that reported on psychotic symptom prevalence among children and adolescents. The median prevalence of psychotic symptoms among children aged 9 to 12 was 17% and among adolescents aged 13 to 18 was 7.5%. CONCLUSIONS: Psychotic symptoms are relatively common in young people, especially in childhood. Prevalence is higher in younger (9 to 12 years) compared to older (13 to 18 years) children.