Comparison of patients with early-, typical-, and late-onset affective psychosis.
OBJECTIVE
The authors compared the clinical characteristics and family history of patients with early-onset (before age 18), typical-onset (at 20-25 years), and late-onset (after age 35) affective psychosis at the time of first hospitalization.


METHODS
Diagnostic, symptom, and family history information was obtained from 88 consecutively hospitalized patients.


RESULTS
Major depression was more common in the late-onset group, and a family history of affective and substance abuse disorders was more common among the early-onset patients. Affective symptoms differed significantly among groups; specifically, early-onset patients had more energy, minimal sleep disruption, and greater suicidality, while typical-onset patients had more severe abnormal thought content.


CONCLUSIONS
Among patients with affective psychosis, there may be heterogeneity of symptoms and family history associated with age at first hospitalization.
Sax
K W
KW
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, OH, USA. saxkw@email.uc.edu
Strakowski
S M
SM
Keck
P E
PE
McElroy
S L
SL
West
S A
SA
Bourne
M L
ML
Larson
E R
ER
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000341:Affective Disorders, Psychotic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D017668:Age of Onset; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data