Age-related differences in the frequency of personality disorders among inpatient veterans

This cross-sectional study explored age-related differences in the frequenc y of diagnosis of personality disorder (PD) among 790 veterans admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit across three age groups: 20-39, 40-59, and 60. Older adults obtained a lower frequency (55.4%) of PD diagnosis than midd le-aged adults (69.0%), who in turn obtained a lower frequency of PD diagno sis than young adults (75.9%). Older adults and middle-aged adults were les s likely to receive a diagnosis of Borderline PD than young adults. Older a dults were also less likely to receive a diagnosis of Mixed PD than young a dults, but received significantly more diagnoses of Narcissistic PD than yo ung adults. Patients diagnosed with PD had higher rates of psychiatric hosp italization than those with no diagnosis of PD. Older adults and middle-age d adults with PD had significantly fewer psychiatric hospitalizations than young adults with PD, whereas there were no age-related differences in the frequency of medical hospitalizations. These findings are consistent with r esearch suggesting an overall softening of PD features with age, particular ly those characteristic of the 'dramatic-erratic', Cluster B types. Copyrig ht (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.