[Clinical characteristics of pneumonia in schizophrenics].

To examine clinical features of pneumonia in schizophrenics, its course was analysed in 115 patients of a mental hospital (91 men, 24 women, mean age 54.4 +/- 1.2 years). 63.3% patients stayed in hospital for more than a year, 70.4% had schizophrenia for 20 years. 86% pneumonia patients were at the age older than 40 years, 35%--older than 60 years. Unfavourable premorbid factors were dementia, weight loss, anemia, recurrent pneumonia and intestinal infections. Pneumonia was characterized by rare fever, pains in the chest, frequent hypotension, systemic symptoms. 58.2% of patients suffered from pneumonia longer than 4 weeks. Lethality was 23.5%. In patients who had schizophrenia up to 10 years lethal outcomes were absent. In lethal outcome, pneumonia was initially diagnosed as severe, it was accompanied by arterial hypotonia in 91.7% of cases, by leukopenia in 40.5% (below 10(9)/l). Lethal outcome was caused by rapid development of brain edema in vascular failure in more than half of the cases. Pneumonia in mental patients was connected with many factors: the disease as such, psychotropic therapy, conditions in the hospital stay.