Catatonia is frequent in black immigrants admitted to Psychiatry in Canada

Objective. To assess the prevalence of catatonia in a sample of patients of African ancestry admitted to Psychiatry in Canada. Methods. Retrospective chart review of 20 consecutive black francophone inpatients assessed by the same psychiatrist. Results. The sample consisted of 12 men and eight women aged 17-59 years. Catatonic symptoms were prominent in 30% of this small sample (n=6), more frequent than the 9% reported in a Canadian general psychiatry population of 140 inpatients (P=0.0126). Conclusions. This finding is limited by the small sample size and the provenance from troubled countries for most of the patients. It is consistent with earlier reports of a higher prevalence of catatonia in nonwhite subjects and among immigrants coming from developing countries, and stresses the importance of systematically assessing catatonia in clinical settings. Further research is warranted to distinguish between the effects of ethnic origin and immigrant status and to determine if the increased prevalence of catatonia is related to neurobiological causes such as maternal gestational infections or to socio-cultural factors.