CORONARY HEART DISEASE IN CHRONIC SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENTS: A CLINICOPATHOLOGIC STUDY

An investigation of 1,275 autopsy protocols and available clinical records of white, male, chronic schizophrenic patients, 40 years or older, with an average length of hospitalization of over 20 years, showed that (a) the prevalence of coronary heart disease as a cause of death was as high in this group of schizophrenic subjects (31 per cent) as in the comparable section of the general population; (b) the fatality rate (66 per cent) of coronary heart disease, (c) the incidence of sudden death (64 per cent of all deaths from coronary heart disease), (d) the incidence of myocardial rupture (21.7 per cent of all fresh myocardial infarctions) and (e) the incidence of painless heart attacks were higher in schizophrenic patients (60 per cent) than in the general population; (f) myocardial aneurysm was found less commonly in schizophrenic patients (2 per cent of all patients who either died of coronary heart disease or other causes but showed old infarct or old occlusion), and (g) there was an almost complete absence of anginal syndrome preceding or following myocardial infarction.