Survival Rates and Causes of Death in Geriatric Psychiatric Patients: A Six-Year Follow-up Study.

Abstract

This is a six-year follow-up study of one hundred and thirty geriatric psychiatric patients admitted to the Winnipeg Psychiatric Institute in 1964. The main findings were: 1) Survival rates were lowest in senile patients with arteriosclerotic dementias. Those with other dementias and confusional states and male paranoid patients did somewhat better. Female paranoid patients and those with affective disorders did not differ significantly from the general population. 2) The survival rate of patients with senile dementia supports the view that the short-term prognosis has improved in recent years. 3) No significant difference was found between the survival rate of those with senile and arteriosclerotic dementia. 4) The high mortality rate of male paranoid patients was probably due to the high incidence of serious physical illness and alcoholism. It is suggested that a sizeable proportion of these cases were secondary to extracerebral somatic disease. 5) The commonest primary causes of death were: a) Bronchopneumonia in the group with dementias. b) Myocardial infarction in those with confusional states. c) Heart disease and other causes in those in the paranoid group. d) Malignant disease and suicide in those with affective disorders. 6) The frequent occurrence of malignant disease in affective disorders is noted.