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The course of illness was investigated retrospectively and prospectively in a sample of 150 hospitalized schizoaffective patients and 95 hospitalized bipolar manic-depressive patients. The two disorders showed more similarities than differences in their course; this was true for the age of onset (31.8 versus 34.7 years) and the length of illness until the end of the observation period (22.5 versus 23.8 years). Schizoaffective disorders took a more benign course than bipolar disorders, as measured by the frequency of the episodes (median 7 versus 9 episodes). Accordingly, periods of remission between episodes were longer in schizoaffective patients. The length of the episodes themselves was about the same in both disorders (median 3 months). Although subjects had reached an average age of 60 years, 63% of schizoaffective and 82% of bipolar patients had experienced new episodes during the last 5 years of the observation period. Patients with schizoaffective psychoses were less likely to achieve a full remission than patients with bipolar disorders. A residual state was observed in 57% of schizoaffective and 24% of bipolar patients during the intervals between episodes. Because both schizoaffective and bipolar disorders showed a highly recurrent course, many patients received long-term treatment with neuroleptic drugs, antidepressants, or lithium.

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