First admission rates for schizophrenia in immigrants to the Netherlands

Data from the Dutch national register were examined in order to determine first admission rates for schizophrenia in the four largest immigrant groups to the Netherlands (from the countries of Surinam, the Netherlands Antilles, Turkey and Morocco). Rates for immigrants from Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles exceeded by far those of the antive-born population. Differences in proportions of compulsory first admissions between young male immigrants from these countries and their native-born counterparts were small and statistically not significant. Rates of first admissions for young male immigrants from Morocco were also much higher than those for the native-born population, but rates for female immigrants from Morocco and for immigrants from Turkey were not increased. These results support British studies reporting an increased incidence of schizophrenia in Caribbean immigrants to the United Kingdom.Published in part by the Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde (in Dutch): 1994, 138: 345–350