engleski

Prevalence of suicide among schizophrenic patients during the life-long follow-up

In this paper we present results of a study of the life-long follow-up of a representative sample of schizophrenic patients in the Republic of Croatia. The research had been retrospective till 1973, and since 1973 it has been prospective. The sample is chosen among the total hospitalized schizophrenic population in Croatia younger than 55, that did not have an additional diagnosis of mental retardation. The representative sample included 832 persons chosen from the Croatian psychosis case register in 1971. The first visit to all available patients was in 1973 and since then patients have been followed-up. The aim of this paper is to show the prevalence of suicide among schizophrenic patients, depending on the sex of patients and on the choice of method for committing suicide. The results show that the prevalence of suicide was over 10% until 1995 and that the percentage is almost the same among men and women. These results also show that schizophrenic patients have the highest risk for suicide and that in distinction from other diagnoses, there is no difference in relation to the sex of patients.

schizophrenia ; Croatia

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