title: Changes in the diagnoses of the functional psychoses associated with the introduction of lithium.
abstract: Diagnostic patterns for schizophrenia and affective psychosis were examined for all admissions to psychiatric facilities in New South Wales over a ten-year (1967-1977) period, before, during, and after lithium carbonate had been established as an accepted treatment. While the proportion of functional psychoses to total admissions remained relatively constant over the study, there was a relative decrease in schizophrenia, and a relative increase in the affective psychosis group. Analyses of sub-groups suggested, after controlling for the effects of time, that the introduction of lithium has been associated with an increase in diagnoses of mania and a decrease in diagnoses of paranoid schizophrenia, both for first admissions and for readmissions.
mesh_terms: D000341:Affective Disorders, Psychotic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D008094:Lithium / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016651:Lithium Carbonate; D010359:Patient Readmission; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D012563:Schizophrenia, Paranoid / Q000175:diagnosis
chemical_list: D016651:Lithium Carbonate; D008094:Lithium