Child and adolescent psychiatric inpatients in Denmark Demographic and diagnostic characteristics of children and adolescents admitted from 1970 to 1986. A register-based study

Abstract

Thomsen PH. Child and adolescent psychiatric inpatients in Denmark. Demographic and diagnostic characteristics of children and adolescents admitted from 1970 to 1986. A register-based study.

From 1970 to 1986 the total number of admissions to psychiatric children's hospitals in Denmark increased from 88 per year to 315 per year as a result of the expansion of the child psychiatric service. This means an increase in incidence from 0.11 per 100,000 per year to 0.38 per 100,000 per year of children aged 5 to 16 years becoming psychiatric inpatients. In the same period there were only minor changes in the diagnostic pattern within the field of child psychiatry in Denmark. The commonest diagnosis is adjustment disorder. The second most frequent diagnosis, neurosis, has been rather constant in number, whereas the frequency of the diagnosis of conduct disorder has decreased in boys. The hypothesis that more outpatient activities would result in more inpatients with “heavier” psychiatric diagnoses could not be verified by the study. On the contrary, the number of psychotic patients decreased in the examined period.

Key Words:

• Child psychiatry
• Diagnostic pattern
• Psychiatric case register