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Factor analysis of symptom ratings recorded on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) for a sample of 87 geropsychiatry inpatients resulted in five relatively independent factors. The factor structure differed in two important respects from that previously observed in numerous analyses of BPRS ratings of patients from the general adult psychiatric population. The symptom of depressive mood combined with emotional withdrawal and motor retardation to define a withdrawn depression factor, whereas depressive mood has routinely evidenced greater affinity for anxiety and tension in younger adults. In addition, the unitary thinking disturbance factor that has been observed routinely in data from the younger adult psychiatric population split into separate factors of cognitive dysfunction and psychotic distortion. Construct validity of the cognitive dysfunction factor was examined with reference to an objective mental status questionnaire.
Overall et al. (Thu,) studied this question.