[Somatic pathology and causes of death in schizophrenia].

Autopsy records (protocols) and medical histories of 850 patients with schizophrenia (death cases from 1952 to 2007) have been studied using statistical analysis. There were substantial changes of indicators studied which were most distinctly seen over the last two decades: the dramatic increase of frequency of cardiac pathology, in particular, chronic ischemic heart disease; appearance of such diseases as acute myocardial infarction and dilatation cardiomyopathy; increase in the number of cases of chronic obstructive lung diseases and active lung tuberculosis as well as malignant tumors, mainly lung cancer. Some changes may be caused by the long-term treatment of schizophrenic patients with neuroleptics of phenothiazine group. The author suggests a term tanatomorphosis for such changes.