J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci 1996; 8:281-286
Copyright © 1996 by American Neuropsychiatric Association
A clinical and neuropsychological comparison of delusional disorder and schizophrenia
JD Evans, JS Paulsen, MJ Harris, RK Heaton and DV Jeste
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, USA.
The authors evaluated 14 middle-aged and elderly patients with delusional
disorder (DD) and 253 patients with schizophrenia (SC); all patients met
DSM-III-R criteria. Because the DD patients were older and had a later age
at onset of illness, a sub-sample of 50 SC patients with illness onset
after age 40 was compared with the 14 DD patients on clinical and
neuropsychological characteristics. The DD group had a less frequent
history of past hospitalization but more severe overall psychopathologic
symptoms. Level of neuropsychological impairment seemed somewhat lower in
the DD group, but differences were nonsignificant because of small sample
size. Diagnoses remained stable during up to 8 years' follow-up (average 4
years). These preliminary findings provide partial support to the clinical
categorization of DD as a disorder distinct from SC.
