Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:40:33.511Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Incidence of First Contact Schizophrenia in Jamaica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Frederick W. Hickling  and
Pamela Rodgers-Johnson
Frederick W. Hickling*
Affiliation:
Psychotherapy Associates, Kingston, Jamaica, and Faculty of Medical Science, University of the West Indies
Pamela Rodgers-Johnson
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medical Science, University of the West Indies
*
Dr F. W. Hickling, Psychotherapy Associates, 23 Connelly Avenue, Kingston 4, Jamaica. Fax: (809) 922 1608.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Afro-Caribbean immigrants are reported to have a high rate of schizophrenia compared with other population groups.

Method

In a prospective first contact study of schizophrenia in Jamaica in 1992, 335 patients were examined using the Present State Examination.

Results

285 patients were evaluated as having a PSE ‘restrictive’ S + diagnosis of schizophrenia, and 32 as having a ‘broad’ S?, P, or O diagnosis of schizophrenia. With a population of 2.46 million, this represents a first-contact incidence rate for ‘restrictive’ schizophrenia of 1.16 per 10 000 population, and an age-corrected (15–54) incidence rate of 2.09 per 10 000.

Conclusion

Incidence rates for schizophrenia in Jamaica are lower than those reported in Afro-Caribbean immigrants in the UK and Holland, and within the reported range for other population groups worldwide.

Type
Papers
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 167 , Issue 2 , August 1995 , pp. 193 - 196
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Dean, G., Walshe, D., Downing, H., et al (1981) First admissions of native-born and immigrants to psychiatric hospitals in South East England, 1986. British Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 506–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, G., Owens, D., Holton, A., et al (1988) A prospective study of severe mental disorder in Afro-Caribbean patients. Psychological Medicine, 18, 643–657.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hickling, F. W. (1991) Psychiatric hospital admission rates in Jamaica, 1971 and 1988. British Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 817–821.Google Scholar
Jablensky, A., Sartorius, N., Ernberg, G., et al (1992) Schizophrenia: manifestation, incidence and course in different cultures. A World Health Organization Ten Country Study. Psychological Medicine: Monograph Supplement 20.Google Scholar
McGovern, D. & Cope, R. V. (1987) First psychiatric admission rates in Afro-Caribbeans. Social Psychiatry, 22, 139–149.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rwegellera, G. G. C. (1977) Psychiatric morbidity among West Africans and West Indians living in London. Psychological Medicine, 335, 851–852.Google Scholar
Sartorius, N., Jablensky, A., Korten, A., et al (1986) Early manifestations and first-contact incidence of schizophrenia in different cultures. Psychological Medicine, 16, 909–928.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sashidharan, S. P. (1993) Afro-Caribbeans and schizophrenia: the ethnic vulnerability hypothesis re-examined. International Review of Psychiatry, 5, 129–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selten, J. P. & Sijben, N. (1994) First admission rates for schizophrenia in immigrants to the Netherlands. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 29, 71–77.Google Scholar
Statistical Institute of Jamaica (1993) Statistical Yearbook of Jamaica, 1992. Kingston, Jamaica: Statistical Institute of Jamaica.Google Scholar
Wing, J. K., Cooper, J. E. & Sartorius, N. Measurement and Classification of Psychiatric Symptoms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1978) Mental Disorders: Glossary and Guide to their Classification in Accordance with the Ninth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD–9). Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.