High delinquency, disability and mortality--a register study of former adolescent psychiatric in-patients.

A Norwegian population of 1276 former adolescent psychiatric in-patients was followed up 15 to 33 years after hospitalization by record linkage to the national registers of criminality, disability benefits and causes of death. In total 1095 patients (53.7% males), representing 85.8% of the original sample, could be traced. On the basis of the hospital records all patients were rediagnosed according to DSM-IV. At follow-up, 52.0% of those investigated had engaged in criminal activity, 38.5% had received disability benefits, and 13.6% had died. The delinquency, disability and mortality rates were significantly increased compared to those for the general population. In total, 22.9% of the population were not found in any of the above registers and were considered to have a good outcome.