ASPECTS OF PSYCHIATRIC ADMISSIONS OF MIGRANTS TO HOSPITALS IN PERTH, WESTERN-AUSTRALIA

Objective: Recent Australian Government initiatives have emphasised pr oblems with service provision to the ethnic mentally ill. This study a ims to address the paucity of contemporary data describing the disposi tion of the ethnic mentally ill in hospital settings. Method: Patterns of admissions for psychiatric disorders to all hospitals in Perth, We stern Australia, for the 3 years from 1990 to 1992, of migrants and th e Australian born were compared using data from the Western Australian Mental Health Information System. Results: The overall rates for Euro pean migrants showed a 'normalisation' towards those of the Australian -born. There were high rates for the schizophrenic spectrum disorders in Polish and Yugoslavian (old terminology) migrants. There were low a dmission rates for South-East Asian migrants, predominantly those from Vietnam and Malaysia. Rates for alcoholism were low in Italian and al l Asian migrants. There were high rates of organic psychosis, especial ly in those older than 75 years, among the Italian and Dutch migrants. The relative risk of a first admission in the 3 years being an involu ntary admission to a mental hospital was almost twice that of the Aust ralian-born for migrants from Poland, Yugoslavia, Malaysia and Vietnam . Conclusions: The results imply the possibility of significant untrea ted and/or undiagnosed psychiatric morbidity in the South-East Asian-b orn. They also indicate a need for further exploration of the unexpect edly high levels of psychiatric morbidity among some ethnic elderly gr oups, specifically the Dutch-and Italian-born. The findings demonstrat e the persistence of high rates of presentation for psychotic disorder s among Eastern European-born populations, many years post migration.