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Hospital-treated and General-population Morbidity from Affective Disorders

Comparison of Prevalence and Inception Rates

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

P. McC. Miller
Affiliation:
MRC Unit for Epidemiological Studies in Psychiatry, Royal Edinburgh Hospital

Abstract

In this study, we compare the rates of psychiatric disorders found among women in a random sample of the general population with those of patients referred to specialist services. Both these groups were drawn from the same geographical area. The ratio of prevalence rates is less than the ratio between inception rates in the two groups. When only those with affective disorders were considered, the results revealed that the point prevalence in the treated-disorders group was only 1% of the community-group prevalence, while the inception into care in the former group was nearly 6% of that in the latter. Single women and older women were over-represented in the hospital sample.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1988 

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