Prevalence of age psychosis and mortality among age psychotics in the Lundby Study. Changes over time during a 25-year observation period.

It has been suggested that persons suffering from age psychosis have benefited from social and medical improvement in the society so that they live longer with their illness than they did before. The Lundby cohort comprises 3,563 persons from a total population, followed concerning mental disorders for 15 or 25 years. In the present study we have investigated the changes over time concerning prevalence of age psychosis and mortality among age psychotics in the Lundby Study during the 25-year observation period. When the first 10-year period was compared with the second 15-year period, the figures for average prevalence of age psychosis and death risk associated with a diagnosis of age psychosis had generally decreased in both sexes, but the differences found between the two time periods did not reach statistical significance. A significantly lower mortality during the second time period was found among mentally healthy women.