Ethnic differences among patients in high-security psychiatric hospitals in England.
BACKGROUND
Black (Black Caribbean and Black African) patients are over-represented in admissions to general adult and medium-security psychiatric services in England.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the sociodemographic, clinical and offence characteristics of patients in high-security psychiatric hospitals (HSPHs) in England, and to compare admission rates and unmet needs by ethnic group.


METHODS
A total of 1255 in-patients were interviewed, and their legal status, socio-demographic characteristics and individual treatment needs were assessed.


RESULTS
Black patients in HSPHs are over-represented by 8.2 times (range 3.2-24.4,95% CI 7.1-9.3), are more often male (P=0.037), and are more often diagnosed with a mental illness and less often diagnosed with a personality disorder or learning disability (P<0.001) than White patients. Unmet needs were significantly less common among White than among Black patients (mean values of 2.22 v. 2.62, difference=0.40,95% CI 0.06-0.73).


CONCLUSIONS
Compared with the proportion of Black patients in the general population in their region of origin, a much higher proportion of Black patients were admitted to HSPHs, and fewer of their needs were met.
Leese
Morven
M
Section of Community Psychiatry (PRiSM), Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK.
Thornicroft
Graham
G
Shaw
Jenny
J
Thomas
Stuart
S
Mohan
Rajesh
R
Harty
Mari Anne
MA
Dolan
Mairead
M
D000328:Adult; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000208:ethnology*; D012926:Social Control, Formal; D014852:Wales / Q000453:epidemiology; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*