[Long-term psychiatric patients at a district psychiatric department].

The purpose of the study was to describe the long-term patients in a psychiatric department conducted according to community psychiatric principles. A hundred and forty-one psychiatric long-term patients were found in the psychiatric department in Horsens Sygehus, Denmark, at a census on August 1, 1987. This corresponds to a prevalence proportion of 1.6/1000. The patients' utilization of care in the department during one year was 111 days on an average. In particular, patients aged 30-39 years and the schizophrenics used the facilities. The study emphasizes that long-term patients, and especially young schizophrenics, present a great problem to community psychiatric department.