Although a considerable body of biological and clinical data has been accumulated on the mood disorders and organic disorders of late life, only a handful of studies have focused on aging schizophrenia patients. Using the results of a comprehensive evaluation of all elderly patients admitted over a 30-month period to a 26-bed acute care geriatric unit, we compared the demographic, social, and clinical characteristics of schizophrenia patients, patients with recurrent major depression with and without psychotic features, and patients with primary degenerative dementia of the Alzheimer's type with and without delusions. The main findings of this study are that elderly schizophrenia patients were younger, more often African-American, more often single, and poorer than the other groups. A concomitant history of substance abuse and institutionalization as an outcome were more frequent among schizophrenia patients. Like the older depressed and demented patients, schizophrenia patients were predominantly female and commonly presented with several medical disorders. The potential significance of these findings is discussed in the context of the literature on the long-term outcome of schizophrenia.

associate with variation in cognitive performance. These findings suggest that the same cognitive abilities that are disrupted in psychotic disorders are also associated with schizophrenia genetic risk in the general population. Specific cognitive phenotypes, independent of education or general intelligence, could be more deeply studied for insight into the specific processes affected by the genetic influences on psychosis.peer-reviewed) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not . http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/103622 doi: bioRxiv preprint first posted online 3 SignificancePsychotic disorders such as schizophrenia often involve profound cognitive deficits, the genetic underpinnings of which remain to be elucidated. Poor educational performance early in life is a well-known risk factor for future psychotic illness, potentially reflecting either shared genetic influences or other risk factors that are epidemiologically correlated. Here we show that, in apparently healthy individuals, common genetic risk factors for schizophrenia associate with lower performance in areas of cognition that are impaired in psychotic disorders but do not associate independently with educational attainment or more general measures of intelligence. These results suggest that specific cognitive phenotypes -independent of education or general intelligence -could be more deeply studied for insight into the processes affected by the genetic influences on psychosis.peer-reviewed)

No abstract

Withdrawal from long-term treatment with benzodiazepines was followed in three patients by a severe delusional depression. The delusional depression may be related to the neurotransmitter changes accompanying benzodiazepine withdrawal. Caution should be exercised in long-term use of benzodiazepines in susceptible individuals.

No abstract