[Evaluation of mortality in hospitalized mental patients 1968-1982]

Yearly, between 1968 and 1976, and every two years from 1976 to 1982, diagnostic data based on a national classification of mental disorders were homogeneously collected in French public psychiatric hospitals. The hospitalized population was estimated by the person-year method, using data on length of stay. The number of observed deaths was compared with the number of deaths expected (Standardized mortality ratio). The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for psychiatric inpatients were found irregularly and slightly decreasing, except among women under 45: this SMR was higher in 1982 (9.6) than in 1968 (7.4). The SMR for neuroses, in the under 55 years age group, showed a regular increase especially among women. The SMR for psychoses and mental retardation was decreasing among men. For people aged more than 55 years the SMR was decreasing for all groups of diagnosis.