Personality disorders in elderly patients with dysthymic disorder

The authors evaluated personality disorders in elderly patients with DSM-IV dysthymic disorder (DD) to identify prevalent personality disorders and th eir clinical correlates. Outpatients (greater than or equal to 60 years; N= 76) with DD were evaluated; most were male (65.8%) and had late age at ons et (>50 yenrs: 60.5%). Axis II disorders were present in 31.2% of patients, with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCD; 17.1%) and avoidant p ersonality disorder (11.8%) being the most common. Personality disorders we re associated with an earlier age at onset of depressive illness, greater l ifetime history of comorbid Axis I disorders, greater severity of depressiv e symptoms, and lower socioeconomic status Personality disorders occurred i n a minority of elderly patients with DD and mainly comprised the obsessive -compulsive and avoidant subtypes, similar to reports of personality disord ers in elderly patients with major depression. In contrast, young adults wi th DD have been shown consistently to have personality disorders at high fr equency. Together with the predominance of late onset and the lack? of psyc hiatric comorbidity, the current findings on personality disorders reinforc e our view that DD in elderly patients is typically a different disorder fr om DD in young adults.