[Psychotic disorders. Higher incidence during travels in Asia]

Psychiatric disorders in French travellers accounted for 15 to 20 percent of medical repatriations arranged by medical assistance companies. The authors of this study dealt with the cases recorded during a 1-year period by one of these companies, and they analysed the psychiatric episodes in relation to the main features of the subject's journey. These episodes usually occurred in summer and affected young or middle-aged people. More than half of them were psychotic disorders which were significantly more frequent in Asia than elsewhere and were unrelated to drug addiction or anti-malarial prophylaxis. The management of these patients by the medical assistance company has been discussed.