Observations on the epidemiology of the delusional misidentification syndromes in the Boston metropolitan area: April 1983-June 1984.
Delusional misidentification syndromes (DMS) are beginning to be well described clinically but little is known about their epidemiology. To try and obtain an estimate of their prevalence, a survey was performed of all admissions to a locked psychiatric inpatient unit from April 1983 to June 1984. 26 patients satisfied clinical criteria for DMS during this time and overall 835 patients were admitted to the unit. Thus, a crude prevalence of 3.1% was found. The median age of the patients was 29 years. The overwhelming majority had a principal psychiatric diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and only 2 of an affective disorder. By a small margin, most patients were male. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.
McLean Hospital, Belmont, Mass.
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Joseph
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D001900:Boston / Q000453:epidemiology; D002194:Capgras Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003702:Delusions / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012563:Schizophrenia, Paranoid / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D014505:Urban Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*