MEDICAL COMORBIDITY IN ELDERLY PSYCHIATRIC-INPATIENTS

A multidisciplinary diagnostic evaluation was performed for 868 older psychiatric inpatients during a 46-month interval. A total of 402 (46% ) met DSM-III-R criteria for organic mental disorders, 329 (38%) had m ood disorders, 90 (10%) had psychotic disorders, and 47 (5%) had other mental disorders or conditions. Concurrent medical problems were syst ematically assessed and classified according to ICD-9-CM criteria. The patients suffered from a mean of 5.6 +/- 3.1 (SD) active medical prob lems (range 0-18). This level of medical comorbidity was significantly greater than that of older psychiatric outpatients and comparable to that of elderly inpatients in general medical hospitals. When the effe cts of age and education were controlled for, there were no significan t differences in mean numbers of medical problems among the four group s of psychiatric inpatients. An association of major depression with d iseases of the digestive system was observed and may be related to per ipheral autonomic dysregulation. (C) 1997 Society of Biological Psychi atry.