Mental disorders in the Greenlandic population. A register study

In a register study of all psychiatric first hospitalizations (1974-93) of persons born and resident in Greenland rates for all admissions as well as for the separate diagnostic groups, hierarchically organized, were compared with corresponding figures for the population in Denmark. Relative mortality rates for the psychiatric patients compared with the general population were computed for the Greenlandic and Danish populations respectively. No significant differences in the total pattern of hospitalization was found, but Greenlandic men 15-24 years old and Greenlandic women 25-34 years old had significantly higher and older age groups lower first admission rates than Danish men and women, respectively. The rates for affective psychoses were low especially among men in Greenland, whereas the rates for schizophrenia among men were comparatively high. The relative mortality risk compared to the general population was much higher among Danish than Greenlandic psychiatric patients, especially regarding suicide. A probable explanation for that is that the suicide rate in the Green-landic general population is very high.