Am J Psychiatry 1981; 138:224-227
Copyright © 1981 by American Psychiatric Association
Death and deinstitutionalization
TJ Craig and SP Lin
Death rates during a period of rapid deinstitutionalization of a state
mental hospital population showed consistent reductions that were
statistically significant in the elderly patient population 65 years and
older. These reductions were most marked for deaths due to pneumonia; there
was a moderate decrease in cardiac deaths, and essentially no change in
cancer death rates. The findings suggest that through a variety of
mechanisms deinstitutionalization may have had a beneficial effect on the
mortality of elderly patients who remained hospitalized. Moreover, the
resultant increased need for beds for these patients dramatizes the
importance for program planners to base their projections for hospital use
on a continuing analysis of trends rather than on static data.
