Incidence and comorbidity of personality disorders among first ever admitted psychiatric patients

Abstract

SummaryDuring a period of one year, 157 first ever admitted psychiatric patients in the age group 18-49 years from a catchment area of 217,649 persons were interviewed with the Present State Examination 10th edition, development version and the Personality Disorder Examination, 1988 version. Of the sample, 23% received at least one DSM III-R personality disorder (PD) diagnosis. Rates avoidant PD, very few borderline PDs were found. Almost all patients with PDs also had major psychiatric disorders and the sample was biased towards younger individuals with more severe Axis I symptomatology compared with first ever admitted psychiatric patients aged 18-49 years in Denmark. Cluster A was associated with schizophrenia, cluster B with alcohol or other substance use disorders, and cluster C with anxiety disorders. Within Axis II, schizotypal PD was associated with avoidant and dependent PD, and paranoid with antisocial and dependent PD.