A Statistical Survey of out-patients in the Department of Neuropsychiatry, Yamaguchi University Hospital

It has been about 35 years since the neuropsychiatry clinic was opened in Yamaguchi University Hospital. It is well known that the content of medical care in psychiatry is changing because of many factors such as the development of psychotropic drugs. In the present study, the medical charts of out-patients in our department in 1962, 1972 and 1982 were surveyed for each year, respectively, in order to clarify the number of all out-patients and of new out-patients, their diagnosis, their age, their address and whether or not they required admission. Similarly, the population of Ube City every 10 years in 1960, 1970 and 1980 was studied. The number of all out-patients was unchanged, however, the number of new out-patients decreased markedly step by step. Among them, a decrease of younger patients and an increase of older patients were observed. The number of patients with manic-depressive illness and neurosis was unchanged, however, that with schizophrenia decreased significantly. Moreover, the admission rate of the patients with manic-depressive illness and schizophrenia also decreased. The greater part of the patient's address distributed in or near Ube City. The population of Ube City was unchanged, however, a marked decreased of younger persons and an increase of older persons was shown. These results suggest that our department occupied an important position as a civil hospital in psychiatry and has a significant role in regional psychiatric medicine.