COLLECTION AND UTILIZATION OF STATISTICAL DATA FROM PSYCHIATRIC FACILITIES IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

This paper describes progress made in developing a national programme for the collection and use of patient data from mental hospitals and related psychiatric facilities in the USA. Examples are provided of the various types of tabulations that may be made to describe the age, sex, diagnostic length of stay and related characteristics of patients receiving services in mental hospitals, of methods of analysing such data to reflect changes that take place in defined segments of the patient population during an interval of time, and of the application of life-table methods to cohorts of patients admitted to such facilities to determine probabilities of retention, release alive and death. The various uses that can be made of such data and of the indices computed from them for epidemiological research and for planning and evaluation of programmes for the control and reduction of disability from mental disorders are also discussed. It is recommended that, where appropriate, community surveys and field studies with the necessary comparison and control groups be conducted to test hypotheses concerning etiology and effectiveness of treatment that arise from the studies of institutional data.