Systematic Reviews
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World J Psychiatry. Feb 19, 2022; 12(2): 348-367
Published online Feb 19, 2022. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v12.i2.348
Catatonia in older adults: A systematic review
Walter Jaimes-Albornoz, Angel Ruiz de Pellon-Santamaria, Ayar Nizama-Vía, Marco Isetta, Ines Albajar, Jordi Serra-Mestres
Walter Jaimes-Albornoz, Angel Ruiz de Pellon-Santamaria, Psychiatry Service, Hospital Universitario Donostia, Basque Health Service - Osakidetza, San Sebastian 20014, Gipuzkoa, Spain
Ayar Nizama-Vía, Psychiatry Service “Virgen del Cisne” Mental Health Community Center, Regional Health Directorate, Tumbes 24002, Peru
Marco Isetta, Library and Knowledge Services, Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust, St Charles’ Hospital, London W10 6DZ, United Kingdom
Ines Albajar, Neurology Service, Hospital Universitario Donostia, Basque Health Service - Osakidetza, San Sebastian 20014, Gipuzkoa, Spain
Jordi Serra-Mestres, Old Age Psychiatry Service, Cardinal Clinic, Windsor SL4 5UL, United Kingdom
Author contributions: Jaimes-Albornoz W and Serra-Mestres J designed this study and completed article screening, data extraction, analysis and interpretation as well as manuscript preparation; Isetta M prepared and wrote the methods section, acquired data and performed initial screening; Ruiz de Pellon-Santamaria A, Nizama-Vía A and Albajar I completed additional data extraction, analysis and interpretation and prepared and wrote manuscript subsections; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
PRISMA 2009 Checklist statement: The authors have read the PRISMA 2009 Checklist, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the PRISMA 2009 Checklist.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Walter Jaimes-Albornoz, MD, Consultant Physician-Scientist, Psychiatry Service, Hospital Universitario Donostia, Basque Health Service - Osakidetza, Paseo del Dr. Begiristain 109, San Sebastian 20014, Gipuzkoa, Spain. walter.jaimesalbornoz@osakidetza.eus
Received: May 30, 2021
Peer-review started: May 30, 2021
First decision: July 14, 2021
Revised: July 27, 2021
Accepted: January 20, 2022
Article in press: January 20, 2022
Published online: February 19, 2022
Processing time: 262 Days and 23.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Catatonia in older people is underrecognized and undertreated, as demonstrated by the scarce bibliography published in this age group, in which the prevalence is high and the etiology usually multifactorial. Catatonia can frequently present together with delirium. General medical conditions and neurological disorders have a very important role in its etiology. Older people could have a higher risk of developing catatonia in bipolar disorder, the general hospital and with benzodiazepine (BZD) withdrawal. Also, they have a higher risk of developing complications secondary to this condition. BZDs and electroconvulsive therapy have been proven to be safe and effective symptomatic treatments, but the correct identification and treatment of the etiology are crucial for a full recovery.