title: Late onset schizophrenia-like illness.
abstract: A chart review of 658 psychiatric inpatients aged 65 years or older with a clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia revealed 32 patients (4.8%) with onset of symptoms after aged 45 who met DSM-III criteria for schizophrenia (except age of onset). Clinical course and response to treatment revealed only 25% to follow an unequivocally schizophrenic pattern. Almost 20% demonstrated substantial affective symptomatology, whereas 15.6% had a brief psychotic episode with full remission, and 40.6% showed signs of organic deterioration. These results suggest that diverse underlying pathologic processes may present initially as late onset schizophreniform illness. The presence of depressive symptoms and assaultive behavior on admission predicted good treatment response while sensory deficits and development of signs of organicity were associated with poor treatment response.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, SUNY Stony Brook.
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Craig
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Bregman
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology