Minor physical anomalies in older patients with late-onset schizophrenia, early-onset schizophrenia, depression, and Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

The authors assessed five groups of older subjects (age > 45) for evidence of minor physical anomalies. The groups were patients with early-onset schizophrenia (onset at age < 45; n = 15), late-onset schizophrenia (onset at age > 45; n = 8), Alzheimer's disease (AD; n = 11), and unipolar depression (n = 11), and normal comparison (NC) subjects (n = 15). Patients with late- and early-onset schizophrenia, and unipolar depression were found to have significantly more anomalies than NC subjects. Patients with AD did not have significantly more anomalies than NC subjects, although the patients with AD were significantly older than the NC subjects. The authors discuss implications of these findings on the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.