title: Older patients with schizophrenia:  does military veteran status matter?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  : The objective of this study was to examine the influence of military veteran status within a data set of older patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.
  
  
  METHODS
  : The data set was examined to determine whether veteran status influenced psychopathology, quality of life, cognitive performance, and everyday functioning among 746 male participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  : There were no significant differences between the groups on measures of premorbid functioning or psychopathology. Veterans in the sample were older, had a higher likelihood of being married (or previously married), had a lower likelihood of living in a board-and-care facility, and had a later age of onset of schizophrenia compared with nonveterans. Though veterans reported worse physical health, they also had better everyday functioning and better performance on some cognitive tasks than nonveterans. Fewer veterans endorsed current use of substances than nonveterans.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  : There were several differences based on veteran status, including everyday functioning, health-related quality of life, cognitive performance, and current substance use.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, California 92108, USA. sthorp@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Steven R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Thorp
authors.forename: Heather M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Sones
authors.forename: Danielle
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Glorioso
authors.forename: Wes
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Thompson
authors.forename: Gregory A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Light
authors.forename: Shahrokh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Golshan
authors.forename: Dilip V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Jeste
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003071:Cognition; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D014481:United States; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*