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A prospective study of severe mental disorder in Afro-Caribbean patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Glynn Harrison ,
David Owens ,
Anthony Holton ,
David Neilson  and
Daphne Boot
Glynn Harrison*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Nottingham
David Owens
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Nottingham
Anthony Holton
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Nottingham
David Neilson
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Nottingham
Daphne Boot
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Nottingham
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Glynn Harrison, Academic Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital, Nottingham, NG7 2UH.
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Synopsis

Several previous studies have reported increased rates of schizophrenia among Afro-Caribbean immigrants, although doubt has been cast upon the value of case-note diagnoses and retrospective case-finding. A prospective study was therefore undertaken, including all patients of Afro-Caribbean ethnic origin with a first onset psychosis presenting to the psychiatric services from a defined catchment area. Utilizing several diagnostic classifications, rates for schizophrenia were found to be substantially increased in the Afro-Caribbean community, and especially in the ‘second generation’ British born. Mode of onset and symptom profiles of psychoses suggest that atypical syndromes, and by implication ‘misdiagnoses’, do not account for reported higher rates of schizophrenic illness in these patients.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , August 1988 , pp. 643 - 657
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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