Risk Factors for Very Late-Onset Schizophrenia-Like Psychosis - Psychiatry Advisor

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The risk for very late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis increases with age, migration, and traumatic life events.
The risk for very late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis increases with age, migration, and traumatic life events.

The risk for very late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis increases with age, migration, and traumatic life events, according to an epidemiologic study published in Schizophrenia Bulletin.

Researchers analyzed data from the Psychiatry Sweden database to create a cohort of individuals aged 60 years or older. The study researchers then followed the participants until immigration, psychotic disorder diagnosis, death, or the end of the follow-up time frame and identified the prevalence and potential risk factors of very late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis. Data on general demographics, gestational risk exposure, region of birth, socioeconomic status, social isolation, and death of a partner or child were collected from several databases, including Longitudinal Integration Database for Health Insurance and Labour Market Studies, Multigenerational Register, and Cause of Death Register.

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Of the 3,007,378 individuals included in the study, there were 14,977 cases of very late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis. The median age at diagnosis was 68 for men and 70 for women, and more women were diagnosed than men. Age and sex had a significant interaction with the risk of very late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis (χ2(6)=31.56, P <.001), indicating risk increased quicker after the age of 80 for women.

Individuals were more likely to be diagnosed with very late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis if they migrated to Sweden from Africa (HR 1.98, 95% CI, 1.44-2.72), were born after World War II (HR 3.09, 95% CI, 2.79-3.42), had income in the lowest quartile (HR 3.07, 95% CI, 2.89-3.25), had children with a psychosis disorder (HR 2.40, 95% CI, 2.23–2.58), and those who did not have a partner their last 2 years of the study (HR 1.86, 95% CI, 1.78–1.93).

Future research needs to evaluate the impact depression, substance abuse, and bipolar disorders have on very late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis diagnosis and explore the specific biological and psychological mechanisms involved in very late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis with the intention of creating an intervention therapy.

The researchers “identified a substantial burden of psychosis incidence in old age, with a higher preponderance in women and most migrant groups. Life course exposure to environmental factors including markers of deprivation, isolation, and adversity were associated with very late-onset schizophrenia-like psychosis risk.”

Reference

Stafford J, Howard R, Dalman C, Kirkbride JB. The incidence of nonaffective, nonorganic psychotic disorders in older people: a population-based cohort study of 3 million people in Sweden [published online October 19, 2018]. Schizophr Bull. doi: 10.1093/schbul/sby147



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