E. Kjelsberg et Aa. Dahl, HIGH DELINQUENCY, DISABILITY AND MORTALITY - A REGISTER STUDY OF FORMER ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRIC-INPATIENTS, Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica, 98(1), 1998, pp. 34-40
A Norwegian population of 1276 former adolescent psychiatric in-patien
ts was followed up 15 to 33 years after hospitalization by record link
age to the national registers of criminality, disability benefits and
causes of death. In total 1095 patients (53.7% males), representing 85
.8% of the original sample, could be traced. On the basis of the hospi
tal records all patients were rediagnosed according to DSM-IV. At foll
ow-up, 52.0% of those investigated had engaged in criminal activity, 3
8.5% had received disability benefits, and 13.6% had died. The delinqu
ency, disability and mortality rates were significantly increased comp
ared to those for the general population. In total, 22.9% of the popul
ation were not found in any of the above registers and were considered
to have a good outcome.