Am J Psychiatry 1997; 154:1299-1301
Copyright © 1997 by American Psychiatric Association
Comparison of patients with early-, typical-, and late-onset affective psychosis
KW Sax, SM Strakowski, PE Keck Jr, SL McElroy, SA West, ML Bourne and ER Larson
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, OH, USA. saxkw@email.uc.edu
OBJECTIVE: The authors compared the clinical characteristics and family
history of patients with early-onset (before age 18), typical-onset (at
20-25 years), and late-onset (after age 35) affective psychosis at the time
of first hospitalization. METHOD: Diagnostic, symptom, and family history
information was obtained from 88 consecutively hospitalized patients.
RESULTS: Major depression was more common in the late-onset group, and a
family history of affective and substance abuse disorders was more common
among the early-onset patients. Affective symptoms differed significantly
among groups; specifically, early-onset patients had more energy, minimal
sleep disruption, and greater suicidality, while typical-onset patients had
more severe abnormal thought content. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with
affective psychosis, there may be heterogeneity of symptoms and family
history associated with age at first hospitalization.
