Assessing schizophrenia in adults with mental retardation. A comparative study

Abstract

Twenty-five patients with mild mental retardation were compared with 26 schizophrenic patients of normal intelligence. The patients with retardation had suffered an earlier onset and were less likely to have been married or employed. However, the clinical phenomena exhibited by the two groups, as elicited by a SADS-L interview, were very similar. Thus, standardised interviews and criteria for schizophrenia can be readily applied to those with an IQ between 50 and 70.