PSYCHIATRIC ADMISSIONS AMONG THE DEAF POPULATION IN DENMARK

A retrospective investigation has been carried out covering the record s of psychiatric disorders requiring hospitalization of adult preverba l deaf persons in Denmark during the period 1 January 1986 to 31 Decem ber 1991. The results were compared with those from a similar investig ation carried out during the period 1965-69. The annual incidence rate during the investigation period was 0.5-0.8% for the adult deaf popul ation. This rate corresponds closely to the statistics relating to hea ring patients and is significantly lower than for the period 1965-69, when the incidence was three to four times that of the hearing populat ion. During the investigation period a significant reduction in the du ration of hospitalization was observed(from 12.6 weeks in 1986 to 4.2 weeks in 1991). This reduction is closely related to the earlier disch arge of patients to alternative sheltered environments. A significantl y larger proportion of forensic psychiatric patients (26% of admission s) was experienced, as compared with the hearing population. In compar ison with previous investigations, a reduction in the number of patien ts with presenile/senile dementia was observed, and at the same time t here was an increase in the number of psychotic patients in relation t o the number of other diagnoses. The predominant causes of admissions were consistently psychotic conditions (51%) and personality disorders (30%). There is a constant large group of preverbal deaf people - in this investigation 40% of the patients - with organic disorders with p sychiatric manifestations and/or perceptual and cognitive disorders.