Search

Background: A growing body of evidence suggests that migration is a risk factor for the development of schizophrenia, although the putative mechanism remains obscure.Aims: To examine immigrant background and history of foreign residence as risk factors for schizophrenia.Method: Using data from the Danish Civil Registration System, we established a population-based cohort of 2.14 million persons resident in Denmark by their fifteenth birthday. Schizophrenia in cohort members and parental psychiatric disorder were identified by cross-linkage with the Danish Psychiatric Case Register.Results: The relative risk of developing schizophrenia was 2.45 (95% Cl 2.25-2.67) and 1.92 (95% Cl 1.74-2.12) among first- and second-generation immigrants respectively, and 1.60 (95% Cl 1.25-2.05) among Danes with a history of foreign residence.Conclusions: Migration confers an increased risk for schizophrenia that is not solely attributable to selection factors and may also be independent of foreign birth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Gender is one of the most frequently replicated predictors for suicide. Aims To identify risk factors for suicide among males and females and to investigate whether risk factors for suicide differ by gender. Method A time-matched nested case—control design was performed using Danish longitudinal register databases to obtain 811 suicide cases and 79 871 controls. Data were analysed using conditional logistic regression. Results A history of hospitalised mental illness was the most marked risk factor for suicide for both genders. Unemployment, retirement, being single and sickness absence were significant risk factors for men, whereas having a child < 2 years old was significantly protective for women. The relative risks for suicide differed significantly between genders according to psychiatric admission status and being the parent of a child < 2 years. However, adjustment for these factors did not eliminate the gender difference in suicide risk. Conclusions Risk factors for suicide differed by gender and gender differences could not be explained by differential exposure to known risk factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The high mortality from suicide in patients admitted to hospital with an affective disorder is well documented, although specific causes of mortality and changes in mortality are less well studied.Aims: To describe the pattern of mortality in patients with affective disorder and to study changes in suicide risk during the study period.Method: All patients (n = 54,103) admitted for the first time to a psychiatric hospital in Denmark during the period 1973-1993 because of affective disorder were included in this study. The mortality rate was compared with that of the general population.Results: Mortality from natural and unnatural causes was elevated in all subgroups of affective disorder. The risk of suicide among patients ill for one year or less after first admission increased during the period 1973-1993.Conclusions: More attention should be paid to the risk of suicide and to physical illness in patients with affective disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although many studies have shown an increased mortality in schizophrenic patients, the literature provides little information about mortality from specific causes in relation to age, gender, and duration of illness. This study examined mortality and causes of death in a total national sample of 9156 first admitted schizophrenic patients. Suicide accounted for 50% of deaths in men and 35% of deaths in women. Suicide risk was particularly increased during the first year of follow-up. Death from natural causes, with the exception of cancer and cerebrovascular diseases, was increased. Suicide risk during the first year of follow-up increased by 56%, with a 50% reduction on psychiatric in-patient facilities. The study confirms that mortality in schizophrenia is still markedly elevated, and the finding of an increasing suicide risk may be an indicator of some adverse effects of deinstitutionalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All Danish psychiatric patients admitted to hospital for the first time in the period 1969-88 with a diagnosis of schizophrenia given at least once during the period were included in the study. More than 8500 patients were examined in the Danish nationwide psychiatric register. First-admission rates decreased by approximately 50% irrespective of mode of calculation and increase in SMR. The use of in-patient care was unchanged despite a reduction in available beds of more than 40% in the study period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]