The epidemiology of mental disorders in Denmark

Abstract

The first counting of mental disorders in Denmark goes back to the 19th century, but the modern era of psychiatric epidemiology was founded in the 1930s and 1940s with population surveys by Stromgren and Fremming. The second era began in 1969 with Dupont's establishment of the nationwide Danish Psychiatric Case Register in the Department of Psychiatric Demography. Since then, a great number of studies of the epidemiology of mental disorders has been performed, mainly concerning inpatient care. Major findings show that treated inpatient prevalence has decreased in parallel with the reduction in number of beds, by approximately 50% to the present number of about 90 per 100,000 inhabitants 15 years and above. Standard mortality rates for suicide among functional psychoses has doubled over 20 years, and first admission rates among psychotics have been almost halved. An exception is seen among eating disorders and borderline states, which show increasing first admission rates. Catchment area surveys show total treatment prevalences ranging from approximately 3 per 100,000 adult persons in rural areas to 10 in Copenhagen districts with high population density, with increasing figures after the introduction of community psychiatric services. A third era in psychiatric epidemiology has been centered in the Department of Psychiatric Demography, based on advanced register linkage studies aimed at etiology and studies of course and outcome, and focusing on large surveys mainly in Copenhagen and Odense.

Key Words:

• Case registers
• Denmark
• Epidemiology
• Incidence
• Mortality
• Prevalence
• Psychiatry
• Secular trends