[Symptom severity among chronic schizophrenics in hospital and in the community]

We compared severity of symptoms of chronic schizophrenics in a psychiatric hospital with those treated in its outpatient clinics. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale and the Mini-Mental State examination were used to assess the schizophrenic symptoms and cognitive performance, respectively, of 25 chronic schizophrenic inpatients matched for gender, age and education with 25 chronic schizophrenic outpatients. The Global Assessment Scale and the Clinical Global Impression Scale were used to test global functioning. Assessment included psychiatric and medical history and treatment and demographic characteristics. In-patients had significantly more positive, negative and general psychiatric symptoms. Their cognitive and general functioning were impaired. Most in-patients also had medical problems. Age of onset of schizophrenia among the in-patients was younger. Results show a marked difference in severity of symptoms and level of functioning between chronic schizophrenic in-patients and out-patients. These differences should be considered in the planning of discharge of chronic in-patients from psychiatric hospitals into the community.