Age disorientation in schizophrenia: a constant prevalence of 25 per cent in a chronic mental hospital population?

The prevalence of age disorientation was estimated in the population of patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia in a large mental hospital. Of these 357 patients 25 per cent demonstrated age disorientation, defined as a five-year discrepancy between true and subjective age, and 11 per cent of the population believed themselves to be within five years of the age they were at admission, although they were a mean 28.9 years older. Age-disorientated patients differed from the age-orientated in being significantly older. However, when age-matched, they were younger at first admission and had a longer duration of stay than patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia without age-disorientation. Age-disorientation may thus be a feature of a type of schizophrenic illness of early onset and poor prognosis.