Long-term outcome of major psychoses. II. Schizoaffective disorder compared with schizophrenia, affective disorders, and a surgical control group

Abstract

Eighty-five patients with both schizophrenic and affective features at the time of admission to the University of Iowa Psychiatric Hospital between 1934 and 1944 were selected for a 30- to 40-year outcome study. Comparison groups were 200 schizophrenic and 325 affective disorder patients, selected by the Feighner et at criteria, and 160 psychiatric symptom-free surgical patients. We assessed marital, residential, occupational, and psychiatric status to evaluate the outcome of these patients at the time of field follow-up. We used multivariate analysis of covariance to analyze the data by taking admission marital and occupational status into consideration. Patients with schizoaffective disorders had a significantly better outcome than those with schizophrenia, but a significantly poorer outcome than those with affective disorders and surgical conditions. Schizoaffective disorder fell somewhere in between the schizophrenia and mania group. Before final conclusions could be made about the nature of schizoaffective disorders, more research should be done.