Somatic illness in manic-depressive and schizophrenic patients

The study compared the presence of somatic illnesses in manic-depressive (n = 100) and schizophrenic patients (n = 156) in the out-patient psychiatric clinics of three general hospitals. The average age of manic-depressive and schizophrenic patients was 40.7 yr and 39.8 yr respectively and did not differ significantly. The sample consisted of both sexes. Among the manic-depressive patients there were 46 males and 54 females. The schizophrenic sample consisted of 84 (54%) males and 72 (46%) females. The result showed that there was a greater rate of the occurrence of physical illnesses in manic-depressive patients as compared to the schizophrenic patients in respect to all the surveyed systemic disorders except for the gastrointestinal diseases. The cardiovascular, neurological and endocrinological diseases were more frequent in the manic-depressives than in the schizophrenic patients.