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Mortality in the long‐stay population of Dutch mental hospitals
Author(s) -
Brook O. H.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1985.tb02558.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cohort , cause of death , cohort study , mortality rate , population , disease , pediatrics , environmental health
The cohort study by Giel et al. of mortality in Dutch mental hospitals is repealed. In the total cohort of 12,139 long‐stay patients counted on prevalence day (31 December 1979) 1226 deaths occurred over a period of 2 years. Similar to the study of Giel et al. the overall death rate of long‐stay patients in the 1979 cohort was approximately twice the expected death rates in the general population. The death rate of patients of both sexes and in each age group significantly exceeded the expected. In our study we found a different pattern of somatic causes of death. In the 1969 cohort respiratory disease was a major cause of death. In our long‐stay cohort respiratory disease was a minor cause of death in all age groups. Another difference is the replacement of cardiovascular disease as a main cause of death by diseases of the cerebrovascular system.