Affective disorders among Greenlandic psychiatric patients

• Published in: Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
• Main Authors: Lynge, I., Munk‐Jsrgensen, P., Mortensen, P. B.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1999
• Subjects: Psychiatry and Mental health; Greenland; greenlander*; greenlandic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0447.1999.tb10892.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1600-0447.1999.tb10892.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1600-0447.1999.tb10892.x

Objective The aim of this study was to determine the treatment incidence, diagnostic stability and clinical and social outcome of affective disorders in the Greenlandic population. Methods A cohort of Greenlanders first hospitalized in 1980–1983 and diagnosed with an affective disorder at least once during the period 7 to 12 years after first admission formed the study population. The manic‐depressive patients who were still alive at follow‐up were invited for a Present State Examination, and information about clinical and social condition was obtained for the total cohort. Results The rates of manic‐depressive psychoses diagnosed at first admission or later were 6.6 for men and 20.4 for women per 100 000 individuals of over 15 years of age. The unipolar: bipolar ratio was very low, namely 1:3 for men and 1:2 for women. Outcome was relatively poor. Conclusion Manic‐depression is a recognizable diagnostic category in Greenland. Extremely low rates of unipolar disorders in both sexes and high rates of bipolar disorders among women were the most marked findings.