Case series with late-onset psychosis hospitalized in a geriatric psychiatry unit in Turkey: experience in 9 years

Abstract

In this article we report the first series of Turkish inpatients with late-onset psychosis, and describe our 9-year experience at the only inpatient geriatric psychiatry department in Turkey. Among 420 patients hospitalized between 1993 and 2002, 27 were psychotic. In this group, eight patients were diagnosed as having late-onset schizophrenia (LOS) and six very-late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis (VLOSLP). Five patients had early-onset schizophrenia and eight had delusional disorder. Females were more frequently seen in the group with LOS and the group with VLOSLP. Except for one patient with LOS, all patients with VLOSLP and LOS had paranoid psychosis. Nihilistic delusions, delusions of poverty or guilt, thought withdrawal, thought insertion, and thought broadcasting were not seen in any of the patients. Additionally, none of the LOS or VLOSLP patients showed erotomanic delusions. Grandiose and mystic delusions were not seen in those with VLOSLP. Treatment results and antipsychotic dosages at discharge were similar to those in previous reports from other cultures.