[An alcoholic clientele and causes of death]

The object of this investigation was to describe the deaths in the Nordic groups and among Greenlanders from section 105 institution in Copenhagen. The investigation included 206 known patients. The median ages for Danes, Finns, Norwegians, Swedes and Greenlanders were 52 years, 45 years, 45 years, 56 years and 33 years, respectively. Nineteen deaths in women were included in the investigation. Socially, the majority of these were lonely and many of these had no fixed abode. The previously recognized somatic diseases in this group were dominated by alcohol misuse, malnutrition, poor housing conditions and sequelae of head injuries. Half of the previous conditions in the group were psychiatric. The deaths in the group were frequently violent and sudden. In 43% of the cases, deaths were not from natural causes, 35% of the deaths were from natural causes and in 22% the causes were unknown. In the group of Greenlanders, which differed considerably from the other groups with Nordic nationalities, 2/3 of the deaths were from violence.