Elder Considerations - Schizophrenia

ELDER CONSIDERATIONS

Late-onset schizophrenia refers to development of the dis-ease after age 45; schizophrenia is not initially diagnosed in elder clients. Psychotic symptoms that appear in later life are usually associated with depression or dementia, not schizophrenia. People with schizophrenia do survive into old age, with a variety of long-term outcomes. Approx-imately one fourth of the clients experienced dementia, resulting in a steady, deteriorating decline in health; another 25% actually have a reduction in positive symp-toms, somewhat like a remission; and schizophrenia remains mostly unchanged in the remaining clients (Sakauye, 2008).