Late Onset Schizophrenia. A Case Report

Abstract

Introduction

The presence of elderly people is more and more common in developed countries. Unlike other medical conditions, late onset psychosis includes organic and mental precipitants in its differential diagnosis.

Objectives

To present a case of late onset schizophrenia.

Methods

Medline search and review of the clinical history and the related literature.

Results

We present the case of a 71-year-old woman with organic medical history of rectum adenocarcinoma in 2008 that underwent radiotherapy, chemotherapy and surgical resection with successful results. According to the psychiatric history, this patient has needed two admissions to the psychiatry ward, the first of them in 2012, (when the delusional symptoms started), due to deregulated behaviour in relation to persecutory delusions and auditory pseudo-hallucinations. In 2012, she was diagnosed with late onset schizophrenia. Blood tests (hemograme, biochemistry) and brain image were normal. Despite treatment with oral amisulpride and oral paliperidone and due to low compliance, delusional symptoms have remained. We started treatment with long-acting injectable papliperidone 75 mg/28 days having reached clinical stability.

Conclusions

Late onset psychosis is due to a wide range of clinical conditions. In this case, our patient had no organic precipitants. The evolution and presentation of delusional symptoms in this patient made us think of late onset schizophrenia as main diagnosis.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.