Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine logoLink to Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine
. 1996 May;89(5):253–256. doi: 10.1177/014107689608900505

Schizophrenia in Afro-Caribbean immigrants.

A F Callan 1
PMCID: PMC1295775  PMID: 8778431

Abstract

Hospital admission rates for schizophrenia are higher in Afro-Caribbean immigrants to Britain than in the white British-born population. However, the reported differences in incidence and prevalence could be due to confounding variables: the diagnosis of schizophrenia might not carry the same prognostic implications in the two groups; and the differences in formal admission rates might not persist when demographic and diagnostic differences are allowed for. The case-notes of 50 Afro-Caribbean immigrants and 41 British-born white patients with a hospital diagnosis of schizophrenia were examined retrospectively, the average period covered being 12 years. There were no differences in the number of readmissions, but in the Afro-Caribbean group readmissions were shorter. Involuntary admissions were twice as common in Afro-Caribbeans and this excess was not explained by differences in age, sex, or type of illness. The reported excess of schizophrenia in Afro-Caribbean immigrants to Britain is real, but the illness seems to run a milder course than in the white British-born population.

Full text

PDF
253

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Bebbington P. E., Feeney S. T., Flannigan C. B., Glover G. R., Lewis S. W., Wing J. K. Inner London collaborative audit of admissions in two health districts. II: Ethnicity and the use of the Mental Health Act. Br J Psychiatry. 1994 Dec;165(6):743-9, 759. doi: 10.1192/bjp.165.6.743. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Callan A. Importance of stratification by age. Br J Psychiatry. 1993 Oct;163:551–551. doi: 10.1192/bjp.163.4.551b. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Glover G. R. Differences in psychiatric admission patterns between Caribbeans from different islands. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1989 Jul;24(4):209–211. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Harrison G., Holton A., Neilson D., Owens D., Boot D., Cooper J. Severe mental disorder in Afro-Caribbean patients: some social, demographic and service factors. Psychol Med. 1989 Aug;19(3):683–696. doi: 10.1017/s0033291700024284. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Harrison G., Ineichen B., Smith J., Morgan H. G. Psychiatric hospital admissions in Bristol. II. Social and clinical aspects of compulsory admission. Br J Psychiatry. 1984 Dec;145:605–611. doi: 10.1192/bjp.145.6.605. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Harrison G., Owens D., Holton A., Neilson D., Boot D. A prospective study of severe mental disorder in Afro-Caribbean patients. Psychol Med. 1988 Aug;18(3):643–657. doi: 10.1017/s0033291700008321. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Hitch P. J., Clegg P. Modes of referral of overseas immigrant and native-born first admissions to psychiatric hospital. Soc Sci Med Med Psychol Med Sociol. 1980 Jun;14A(4):369–374. doi: 10.1016/0160-7979(80)90120-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Ineichen B., Harrison G., Morgan H. G. Psychiatric hospital admissions in Bristol. I. Geographical and ethnic factors. Br J Psychiatry. 1984 Dec;145:600–604. doi: 10.1192/bjp.145.6.600. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. King M., Coker E., Leavey G., Hoare A., Johnson-Sabine E. Incidence of psychotic illness in London: comparison of ethnic groups. BMJ. 1994 Oct 29;309(6962):1115–1119. doi: 10.1136/bmj.309.6962.1115. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. McGovern D., Cope R. V. First psychiatric admission rates of first and second generation Afro Caribbeans. Soc Psychiatry. 1987;22(3):139–149. doi: 10.1007/BF00583848. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. McGovern D., Hemmings P., Cope R., Lowerson A. Long-term follow-up of young Afro-Caribbean Britons and white Britons with a first admission diagnosis of schizophrenia. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1994 Feb;29(1):8–19. doi: 10.1007/BF00796443. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. McKenzie K., van Os J., Fahy T., Jones P., Harvey I., Toone B., Murray R. Psychosis with good prognosis in Afro-Caribbean people now living in the United Kingdom. BMJ. 1995 Nov 18;311(7016):1325–1328. doi: 10.1136/bmj.311.7016.1325. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Moodley P., Perkins R. E. Routes to psychiatric inpatient care in an Inner London Borough. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1991 Jan;26(1):47–51. doi: 10.1007/BF00783581. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. New P., Vokes E., Rogers L., Bazan C., Hohneker J., Eble M., Vilk P. Long-term response to crisnatol mesylate in patients with glioma. Invest New Drugs. 1997;15(4):343–352. doi: 10.1023/a:1005968700694. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Owens D., Harrison G., Boot D. Ethnic factors in voluntary and compulsory admissions. Psychol Med. 1991 Feb;21(1):185–196. doi: 10.1017/s003329170001477x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Sugarman P. A. Outcome of schizophrenia in the Afro-Caribbean community. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol. 1992 Mar;27(2):102–105. doi: 10.1007/BF00788513. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Wyatt R. J. Biochemistry and schizophrenia (part IV) the neuroleptics--their mechanism of action: a review of the biochemical literature. Psychopharmacol Bull. 1976 Jul;12(3):5–50. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine are provided here courtesy of Royal Society of Medicine Press

RESOURCES