Incidentie van schizofrenie bij autochtonen en allochtonen in Den Haag

To compare the incidence of psychotic disorders in the largest immigrant groups in The Hague, the Netherlands, to that in natives.

Design

Prospective.

Method

During the period 1 April 1997 to 31 March 1999 an effort was made to examine all residents of The Hague who made a first-in-lifetime contact with a physician for a (suspected) non-organic psychotic disorder. To this end all general practitioners, community psychiatric nurses and psychiatrists (in training) in The Hague were requested to report these patients to the researchers. Using information derived from a diagnostic interview, two psychiatrists, blind for the patient's ethnicity, made a DSM-IV diagnosis.

Results

A total of 181 residents made a first contact for a psychotic disorder: 126 male subjects with an average age of 28.3 years (SD: 9.2) and 55 female subjects with an average age of 32.0 years (SD: 9.5). There was an increased relative risk of schizophrenia, schizophreniform or schizoaffective disorder for subjects born in Morocco (4.5; 95-CI: 2.4-8.5; adjusted for sex and age), Surinam (3.2; 1.8-5.7), the Netherlands Antilles (2.9; 0.9-9.5) and other non-western countries (2.4; 1.3-4.7). The risk was also increased for second generation Moroccans (8.0; 2.6-24.5) and Surinamese (5.5; 2.5-11.9). The risks for Turkish immigrants (first or second generation), and immigrants from western countries were not increased.

Conclusion

The incidence of schizophrenia was increased in several, but not all, immigrant groups.