Abstract
This chapter describes the current thinking about schizophrenia with onset after age 45. The characteristics of patients who meet current DSM criteria for schizophrenia compared with patients of similar age with earlier onset is evaluated in this chapter. The characteristics of schizophrenia with late-life onset are described in terms of epidemiology, symptom severity, cognitive and functional characteristics, and treatment response. The issue of the validity of the concept of late-life schizophrenia is also evaluated in terms of comparison of the critical associated features of schizophrenia across early and late-onset cases. Similar conditions with late-life onset but not meeting criteria for schizophrenia are described and compared to these other two conditions. Finally, special issues in the assessment, study and treatment of this rarer population are examined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved)