Objectives:

This study was performed to examine the effects of the public attention to ‘crime of schizophrenia’ on the use of mental health services in patients with schizophrenia using big data analysis.

Methods:

Data on the frequency of internet searches for ‘crime of schizophrenia’ and the patterns of mental health service utilization by patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders by month were collected from Naver big data and the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Services in Korea, respectively. Their correlations in the same and following month for lagged effect were examined.

Results:

The number of outpatients correlated negatively with public attention to ‘crime of schizophrenia’ in the same month. The lagged relationship between public attention and the number of admissions in psychiatric wards was also found. In terms of sex differences, the use of outpatient services among female patients correlated negatively with public attention in the same month while the number of male patients’ admissions in both same and following month correlated positively with public attention.

Conclusion:

These findings suggested that public attention to ‘crime of schizophrenia’ could negatively affect illness behavior in patients with schizophrenia. (Korean J Schizophr Res 2019;22:34-41)