Elderly schizophrenic inpatients in the wake of deinstitutionalization

The authors investigated the factors relating to the observation that in a large state hospital, there is an age-related increase in the ratio of patients with a DSM-II diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia to those with a diagnosis of nonparanoid schizophrenia. Elderly inpatients (N = 1,518) treated over a 5-year period were studied and the hypotheses of proportionately greater numbers with late onset of paranoid conditions, longer lengths of stay for recently admitted paranoid patients, and changing diagnosis over time were tested and rejected. The data suggest that the buildup among the elderly of those diagnosed under DSM-II to have paranoid conditions is due to patients admitted well before age 54. The authors discuss the reasons for the poor prognosis of this group.