title: The psychiatric case register middle Netherlands.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Psychiatric Case Register Middle Netherlands (PCR-MN) registers the mental healthcare consumption of over Dutch 760,000 inhabitants in the centre of the Netherlands. In 2010 the follow-up period was over ten years. In this paper we describe the content, aims and research potential of this case register.
  
  
  METHODS
  All mental healthcare institutions in the middle-western part of the province of Utrecht participate in the PCR-MN case register. All in- and out-patients treated in these institutions have been included in the database from the period 2000 to 2010. Diagnosis according to DSM-IV on axis I to IV, visits to in- and out-patient clinics and basic demographics are recorded. A major advantage of this register is the possibility to link patients anonymously from the PCR-MN cohort to other databases to analyze relationships with determinants and outcomes, such as somatic healthcare consumption, mortality, and demographics, which further increases the research potential
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The PCR-MN database has a large potential for scientific research because of its size, duration of follow-up and ability to link with additional databases, and is accessible for academic researchers.
authors.affiliation: Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands. H.M.Smeets@umcutrecht.nl
authors.forename: Hugo M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Smeets
authors.forename: Wijnand
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Laan
authors.forename: Iris M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Engelhard
authors.forename: Marco P M
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Boks
authors.forename: Mirjam I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Geerlings
authors.forename: Niek J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: de Wit
mesh_terms: D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*