A 30-year follow-up study of a child psychiatric clientele. I. Demographic description.
A register investigation was carried out as of December 31, 1980, with the aim of giving a broad description of a child psychiatric clientele 30 years after admission to hospital. The material consists of 322 patients--189 boys (59%) and 133 girls (41%)--who were admitted during the period 1949-1951 to the only 2 child psychiatric departments at that time in Denmark. We succeeded in identifying 93% of the patients. The mean age at the time of analysis was 38.6 years (range 32-46). The material was compared with the age-related Danish population by marital status, vocational education, and socioeconomic class. A total of 115 patients (36%) had been admitted to an adult psychiatric department, and 50 patients only once. A total of 95 patients (30%) had committed criminal offences and 12 had only committed traffic offences. A total of 60 patients (19%) had obtained disability pensions. During the 30-year follow-up period, 19 patients (6%) had died. A statistically significant extra mortality was found only for women. Four patients had committed suicide. By logistic regression analysis, a statistically significant correlation was found between criminal record and admission to psychiatric department and the variables: divorce, no vocational education, and lowest socioeconomic class. About 54% had managed well, judging by the variables employed.
Larsen
F W
FW
Department of Child Psychiatry, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Dahl
V
V
Hallum
E
E
D000328:Adult; D002665:Child Psychiatry; D003415:Crime; D003718:Denmark; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008393:Marriage; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000401:mortality / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011567:Psychiatric Department, Hospital; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012923:Social Class