Urbanisation as a risk indicator for psychiatric admission

Objective: This study examines the independent effect of urbanisationon the risk for admission irrespective of age, sex and maritalstatus.Method: Logit analysis was performed on a dataset containing allfirst admissions to Dutch general psychiatric hospitals andpsychiatric teaching clinics in 1991.Results: Unmarried people and people living in urbanisedmunicipalities have an increased risk of admission in alldiagnostic groups analysed. People over 45 have an increasedrisk of admission for affective psychosis and organic psychosis.Women have an increased risk of affective psychosis.Conclusion: A high level of urbanisation increases the risk ofadmission in the diagnosis groups studied. However, beingunmarried is a higher risk factor.