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A Comparative Study of 470 Cases of Early-Onset and Late-Onset Schizophrenia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Robert Howard ,
David Castle ,
Simon Wessely  and
Robin Murray
Robert Howard*
Affiliation:
Section of Old Age Psychiatry
David Castle
Affiliation:
Genetics Section, Institute of Psychiatry
Simon Wessely
Affiliation:
King's College Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry
Robin Murray
Affiliation:
King's College Hospital and Institute of Psychiatry
*
∗Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF
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Abstract

The presence or absence of 22 schizophrenic symptoms was recorded with the age at onset of illness in 470 patients with non-affective, non-organic psychoses. Positive and negative formal thought disorder, affective symptoms, inappropriate affect, delusions of grandiosity or passivity, primary delusions other than delusional perception, and thought insertion and withdrawal were all more common in early-onset cases (age at onset 44 years or less; n = 336). Persecutory delusions with and without hallucinations, organised delusions, and third-person, running commentary and accusatory or abusive auditory hallucinations were all more common in late-onset cases (age at onset 45 years or more; n = 134). There was no difference between cases of early and late onset in the prevalence of delusions of reference, bizarre delusions, delusional perception, or lack of insight. We conclude that although there are clinical similarities between cases of schizophrenia with early and late onset, there are sufficient differences between them to suggest that they are not phenotypically homogeneous.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 163 , Issue 3 , September 1993 , pp. 352 - 357
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1993 

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