노인환자의 신경정신과적 관찰

A Clinical Observation on Elderly Neuropsychiatric Patients

The author made a clinical study of elderly patients (above the age o f 60): 70 inpatients and 152 outpatients w ho had been managed in theneuropsychiatric department of Kyung-Hee University Hospital during the past 9 years from Feb. 1971 to Feb. 1980. Data were analized inseveral aspects and the following results wereobtained. 1. The elderly patients occupied 2.5% of all patients and it was noticed that the number of elderly patients have been gradually increased year by year since 1977. The elderly patients occupied 3.5% of all inpatients. 2. The number of male patients were larger than female in the ratio of 1 . 2 : 1 in inpatients and 1.3 ： 1 in outpatients. 3. The proportion of organic brain syndrome was higher in inpatients than outpatients, and the proportion of organic brain syndrome associated with arteriosclerosis was the highest (31.4% ) among inpatients. 4. Among inpatients, the results of treatment revealed improvement in 62.9% , no change in 31.4% and worsening in 5.7% . Especially the results of convulsive disorder and alcoholic psychosis were more favorable than others. 5. The rate of admission via emergency room, occupied 30.0% of all admissions and the rate of admission within one day after onset occupied 32.9% of all admitted patients. 6. It was noticed that the most frequent symptoms were physical symptoms and signs in outpatients, and cognitive dysfunctions and behavior disorders were more frequent in inpatients than outpatients. 7. Affective symptoms and behavior disorders were improved better than cognitive dsyfunction in inpatients. The author noticed the increasing trend of elderly patients who have visited neuropsychiatric department in these years and recognized that the outcome of treatment could be anticipated hopefully. Upon the base of above findings, more extensive studies for elderly patients were thought to be necessary.