Diagnoses and dropout among patients of danish psychiatrists in private practice

This study examined diagnoses of patients treated by psychiatrists in private practice in Denmark and identified predictors of dropout.

Between 1996 and 2006, a total of 37 psychiatrists contributed data about treatment episodes to a quality assurance database. The diagnostic distribution was determined, and univariate and backward stepwise regression analysis was used to identify dropout predictors.

Among 41,462 episodes (35,205 patients), 39%-41% were for an ICD-10 diagnosis of affective disorders, 30%-35% for nervous and stress-related disorders, and 10% for personality disorders. For episodes involving these diagnoses, 26,443 were terminated; 26.2% ended in dropout, which was predicted by the patient's being male, younger age (< or =44 years), presence of personality disorder, shorter treatment duration (< or =111 days), use of psychotropic medication, and a larger population per psychiatrist in the catchment area.

Attention should be given to younger male patients treated for personality disorders, because they are at higher risk of treatment dropout.