The general and case-specific mortality has been studied in a cohort consisting of 3,910 male and 962 female patients admitted to the Magnus Huss clinic, Karolinska hospital 1962Karolinska hospital -1981. The clinic is specialized in the care of voluntarily admitted patients with alcohol problems. The cohort has been followed until 20 March 1983. During this period there were 1,141 deaths among the male patients which gives the relative risk of 3.0, compared with the male population in Stockholm. Among the females there were 191 cases of death and the relative risk is 5.2.Among males there was a significant excess mortality due to alcoholism, cirrhosis of the liver, pancreatitis, tuberculosis, pneumonia, alcohol intoxication, suicide, other causes of violent death, ischaemic heart disease, cancer in upper digestive tract, primary hepatic cancer and lung cancer. Causes of death where a significant excess mortality was found among females were alcoholism, alcohol intoxication, cirrhosis of the liver, suicide, other causes of violent death and mammary cancer.The mortality ratios among males were lower for the married patients than among those living single. Among females the ratio was lower for divorced patients. There were no significant variations in the mortality ratios among different social classes, with the exception of females from the highest social class, who showed a lower mortality ratio. The mortality was higher among the patients who entered the clinic during the latter part of the observation period. The ratio was highest the first year after admission but there was a significant excess mortality as long as 20 years after the first treatment period.
A 5-year follow-up study was performed on 82 homeless men, with mental problems, who had been contacted by an outreach team run by the Social welfare administration of Stockholm 1995/1996. Data have been collected from the Cause of Death Register, death certificates, forensic autopsy reports, hospital medical reports, Hospital Discharge Register, interviews with social workers and with those men who were able to participate. The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) was 4.7 times higher than expected. The highest mortality was found in the group where drug addiction was dominant; 46% had died. In the group of men with severe psychiatric disorders, with diagnosis such as schizophrenia, none had died. Compared with the others, they had spent less time in homelessness. Among the survivors, 75% were still homeless at the follow-up in spite of considerable treatment interventions from the social services and health authorities. Residential institutions or treatment seemed to have some protective effect concerning misuse, diseases and injuries. Among the still homeless, the mental health problems combined with substance use problems had increased with 17%. The life and housing situation for the whole group seemed not to have improved, even if fewer of them were staying in hostels for homeless people.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.