MINOR PHYSICAL ANOMALIES IN OLDER PATIENTS WITH LATE-ONSET SCHIZOPHRENIA, EARLY-ONSET SCHIZOPHRENIA, DEPRESSION, AND ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE

The authors assessed five groups of older subjects (age > 45) for evid ence of minor physical anomalies. The groups were patients with early- onset schizophrenia (onset at age < 45; n = 15), late-onset schizophre nia (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 sub jects. Patients with AD did not have significantly more anomalies than NC subjects, although the patients with AD were significantly older t han the NC subjects. The authors discuss implications of these finding s on the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.