[Comparative follow-up survey of psychiatric invalids]

Within a five-years-period data about 200 psychic disabled patients (100 from the canton of Basel-country, and 100 from the canton of Basel-town) were collected in respect to their person as well as to the progress of their illness. These patients differed from the general population in the following important points: More single people (unmarried and divorced persons) are found that in the general population of the same age (p less than 0.01). Foreigners are underrepresented (p less than 0.01). Subdivided into social classes (Bolte) it was striking that 71% of the patients belong to the lower class, whereas the upper class is not represented. 10.5% of all patients were not able to finish their professional education because of their illness. Schizophrenia was the most mentioned diagnosis (46.5%), followed by the diagnosis "abnormal psychic development" (inclusively neuroses: 34.5%). The progress of illness shows that 7% of all patients did not need the invalidity-pension any more after five years. Half of them are patients who fell ill already in the late puberty. Patients who were taken ill on abnormal psychic development after their 40th year show unfavourable progress of illness: Except for one foreign patient and two of nine patients who returned to their home-country and who were not included in this study, no tendency of recovery has been noticed. The number of patients who died during the five years of observation (21 deceased on 200 living) is very high. This figure of mortality is 7.4 times (canton of Basel-country) and 8.1 times (canton of Basel-town) higher than the mortality of the same age group of the general population. It is also higher in comparison with the average of the respective illness groups as stated by Ciompi and Müller. The cause of death is suicide in 48%. In another 24%, suicidal impulses could have been inherent. Also the number of hospitalisations is very high: Only 22% of the patients were never in a hospital. In comparison 12% were once and 66% more than once or longer than one year in a hospital.