Meta-analysis of postmortem studies of Alzheimer's disease-like neuropathology in schizophrenia [published erratum appears in Am J Psychiatry 1997 Aug;154(8):1180]

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the hypothesis that patients with schizophrenia who have been treated with neuroleptics have a high rate of Alzheimer's disease-like neuropathology. METHOD: Neuropathological studies indicating the presence or absence of Alzheimer's disease-like neuropathology in the postmortem brains of patients with schizophrenia, normal comparison subjects, and comparison subjects who had affective disorder were evaluated with Mantel-Haenszel chi-square and odds ratio analyses. RESULTS: Ten studies with relevant data were reviewed; none of eight with comparisons indicated that Alzheimer's disease-like neuropathology was more likely to be found in the brains of patients with schizophrenia than in the brains of comparison subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Suggestions that cerebral plaques and neurofibrillary tangles are more common in schizophrenia in association with neuroleptic treatment were not supported.