[Neglect of elderly patients in psychiatric clinic admission]

We investigated whether older patients are disadvantaged compared to younger patients on admission to a psychiatric clinic.

Using odds ratio and Mantel-Haenszel statistics, the null hypothesis is tested of whether patients over sixty-five years old who do not live in the sector of the catchment area of a psychiatric clinic have the same changes of admission as patients over sixty-five who live in this sector.

Older sector patients and younger non-sector patients are preferentially admitted compared to older non-sector patients. The odds ratio of the particular groups deviated highly significantly from 3.83, thus refuting the null hypothesis.

Younger patients are preferentially admitted by the clinical psychiatrist.