RESUMO
The factors that influence hospital admissions for schizophrenia in Costa Rica were investigated in people of both sexes who were admitted for the first time with this diagnosis (codes 295.0 to 295.9 of the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision) in the period 1979 to 1981. Annual incidence rates were calculated using the number of hospitalized cases and the total population of the country. The average annual incidence was found to be 48.2 cases per 100000 inhabitants. High frequencies of first admissions were seen among males 40 to 44 years of age and females 45 to 49. Incidence was highest among unmarried women, followed by divorced women. There was a significant inverse relationship between educational attainment and rates of admission for schizophrenia, and incidence rates were highest among unemployed women and housewives. The association between rate of hospitalization for schizophrenia and 10 characteristics of the cantons was studied by means of logistic regression. Only two variables-the distance between the canton's principal town and the hospital and the volume of coffee harvest per resident-showed a direct significant association with admission rates for schizophrenia. The cantons which had the highest number of births of children who were diagnosed as schizophrenic in adulthood were those closest to the psychiatric hospital and those that had a low level of industrial or agricultural activity, low population density, and high proportions of single or divorced persons.
Assuntos
Hospitais Psiquiátricos/estatística & dados numéricos , Admissão do Paciente/estatística & dados numéricos , Esquizofrenia/epidemiologia , Adulto , Costa Rica/epidemiologia , Escolaridade , Feminino , Hospitais Públicos/estatística & dados numéricos , Humanos , Incidência , Masculino , Estado Civil , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Ocupações , Estudos Retrospectivos , Fatores SocioeconômicosRESUMO
What demographic, geographic and temporal factors characterize the rate of first hospitalizations for affective psychosis in Costa Rica? This report presents graphically the first hospitalization rates for the whole country of Costa Rica, with analysis of specific rates for the subgroups by age, sex, marital status, level of education, occupation, place of residence, and place of birth, as well as separate rates by month and date of hospital admission, monopolar first admissions increased slowly from the age of 10 to the age of 45 years, then "exploded" to a peak between 55 and 65 years, then declined somewhat. The educational group among men with the highest rate was the group with at least some university education. Professionals, clerical workers, unskilled laborers, and those with no occupation had high rates. Higher rates were also associated with being single, divorced, widowed, having no occupation, and living in rural, coffee-growing areas that were not too distant from the hospital.