Characteristics of auditory hallucinations and associated factors in older adults with schizophrenia

To examine the characteristics of auditory verbal hallucinations and associated factors in older adults with schizophrenia.

One hundred ninety-eight persons aged 55 and older living in the community who had developed schizophrenia before age 45 years were assessed for the presence, topography, content, and subjective qualities of auditory hallucinations. George's social antecedent model of psychopathology was used to examine 17 predictor variables of auditory hallucinations.

Thirty-two percent experienced auditory verbal hallucinations. More than half heard voices daily, heard good/pleasant voices, or had command hallucinations; 25% obeyed "bad" voices, whereas 87% obeyed "good" voices. There were no significant differences in depression and social functioning between persons judging their voices to be good versus bad. In logistic regression analysis, depressive symptoms, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale delusion score (>2), and male gender were associated with auditory verbal hallucinations.

Older adults with schizophrenia had a lower rate of auditory verbal hallucinations than had been reported previously for younger persons with schizophrenia. For most features of auditory verbal hallucinations, older adults had similar rates to younger persons. However, older adults were more apt to judge their voices as good and more likely to obey the good voices than those voices perceived as bad. From a clinical standpoint, this may be construed as a potentially useful coping strategy. However, subjective judgments about voices did not significantly affect mood or functioning, and the presence of auditory verbal hallucinations was associated with more depressive symptoms.