Furthermore, the cost of health care tends to be highest for the oldest of these patients (Cuffel et al., 1996). Schizophrenia affects about 1% of the population and is arguably the most expensive mental illness in adults. Please see Table 1 on p19 of the print edition-Ed.) (Due to copyright concerns, this table cannot be reproduced online. Table 1 highlights the main differences between these two conditions (Jeste and Finkel, 2000). Two important chronic psychotic disorders in older people that will be discussed in this article are schizophrenia in late life and psychosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Chronic and persistent psychotic symptoms belong to one of two groups: primary psychotic disorders (such as schizophrenia, delusional disorder, psychotic mood disorder) or psychosis secondary to dementia or other general medical conditions. The health-related well-being of older patients with psychosis living in the community is comparable to (or even slightly worse than) that of outpatients with AIDS (Patterson et al., 1996).Īcute psychotic symptoms in older people may reflect delirium or metabolic causes. One of the most disenfranchised groups in health care is older people with psychotic disorders. In addition, as people in the general population live longer, the numbers of individuals who will develop psychotic disorders in later life will also grow. The average life span of these patients is expected to increase, thanks to improved pharmacologic and other treatments, as well as general improvement in health and nutrition. Younger adults who have a serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia, currently have a significantly shorter life span than those without mental illness. There will be a disproportionately greater increase in the number of elderly Americans who suffer from a mental illness-from approximately 6 million today to about 15 million by 2030 (Jeste et al., 1999a). With the aging of the baby boomers, the number of people in the United States older than 65 is projected to double from about 35 million today to nearly 70 million by 2030.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |