Schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, and anti-inflammatory agents.

Some recent postmortem reports raise the possibility that Alzheimer-type pathology may be 6 to 12 times higher in elderly schizophrenia patients than in general population. One study indicates that neuroleptic treatment may be an important contributor. Other reports, however, suggest that cognitive impairment in elderly schizophrenia patients is seldom due to Alzheimer-type pathology, indicating that more detailed follow-up studies are needed. Since multiple epidemiological studies show that Alzheimer's disease is less prevalent in patients with medical conditions requiring anti-inflammatory drugs than in the general population, anti-inflammatory medication might be considered as an adjuvant to chronic neuroleptic treatment in elderly schizophrenia patients showing early signs of Alzheimer-type memory deficits.