Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry

Late-onset schizophrenia(LOS) is a controversial entity. It has been thought that onset of schizophrenia is limited to early adulthood, but many European psychiatrists have reported on the occurrence of schizophrenia in late life. DSM-Ⅲ restricted the diagnosis of schizophrenia to patients with onset of illness before age 45 years. But, DSM-Ⅲ-R, DSM-Ⅳ, and ICD-10 recognize no upper limit to the age at onset of schizophrenia. Patients with LOS have more visual, tactile, and olfactory hallucinations. Patients with LOS have more persecutory delusions, premorbid schizoid personality traits, and less affective blunting. The course of illness was favorable in LOS. We present four cases of LOS. Their detailed clinical features are reported hear with brief review.

Keywords Late-Onset schizophrenia;Age at onset;Diagnostic criteria; Schizophrenia.