Characteristics of repeatedly secluded elderly female schizophrenic inpatients

The purpose of the present study was to determine the characteristics of repeatedly secluded female inpatients. Fifty female inpatients in a typical mental hospital were retrospectively investigated from the viewpoint of their recent history of seclusion, age, psychiatric symptoms rated by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, doses of antipsychotics, and serum prolactin levels. The patients were divided into three groups (none, once, twice or more) by the frequency of seclusion in the most recent year. The three groups were significantly different in terms of positive symptoms, general psychopathological symptoms and serum prolactin levels. Unexpectedly, the seclusion frequency was negatively associated with serum prolactin levels. The present findings suggest that repeatedly secluded female inpatients suffered from relatively low prolactin levels as well as more positive and psychopathological symptoms. Further prospective studies are warranted to confirm these findings and to investigate whether low prolactin levels are useful in predicting the risk of frequent seclusion in female inpatients.