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PAPERS:
Hans Joachim Salize and Harald Dressing
Epidemiology of involuntary placement of mentally ill people across the European Union
The British Journal of Psychiatry 2004; 184: 163-168 [Abstract] [Full text] [PDF]
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[Read eLetter] Involuntary placement across Europe: data from Italy
Angelo Barbato, Barbara D'Avanzo   (26 May 2004)

Involuntary placement across Europe: data from Italy 26 May 2004
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Angelo Barbato,
psychiatrist
Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research,
Barbara D'Avanzo

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Re: Involuntary placement across Europe: data from Italy

dirba{at}tin.it Angelo Barbato, et al.

Milan, May 12th, 2004

Sir,

Salize and Dressing (2004) show figures for various indicators of involuntary placements in psychiatric facilities in the European Union countries. According to the authors, Italy was unable to provide nationwide data from the 1990s. Therefore, they showed in Table 1 data from the Lombardy region, concerning only the percentage of involuntary placements on all inpatient episodes for an “unknown year”. Data from Lombardy on number and rate of involuntary placements for 100000 population are indicated as “not available”. Actually, nationwide data have been published up to 1997, and data from the database of the Lombardy region are available for the period 1995- 2001. The Italian data can be found on the website of the National Institute of Statistics (www.istat.it/Societ-/Sanita-e-p/Storico) and those of Lombardy on the website of the Regional Directorate of Health (www.sanita.regione.lombardia.it/documenti). Besides, in Table 1 the rate of 11 involuntary placements per 100000 is indicated for France. This is not correct, as can be easily understood looking at absolute numbers of 61163 involuntary admissions in France. Given the French population of about 59.3 million inhabitants, the correct rate is 103 per 100000 population. Below is a table showing the data from Italy and Lombardy.

Involuntary placements in Italy

Year Involuntary placements  
  Lombardy* Italy**  
  n Percentage of all inpatient episodes 100000 population n Percentage of all inpatient episodes Per 100000 population
1996 2832 12.3 37 14882 10.9 26
1997 2818 11.6 37 15048 11 26
1998 2803 12.1 36      
1999 2792 12.6 36      
2000 2794 11.8 35      
2001 2487 10.8 31      

Source: Regione Lombardia Sanità, I Servizi Psichiatrici della Regione Lombardia, anni 1996-2001. ** Source: Istituto Nazionale di Statistica, Annuario Statistiche della Sanità, anni 1996 e 1997.

Yours sincerely.

Angelo Barbato Barbara D’Avanzo Unit of Epidemiology and Social Psychiatry, Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, Via Eritrea 62, 20157 Milan, Italy

References Salize, H.J. & Dressing, H. (2004) Epidemiology of involuntary placement of mentally ill people across the European Union. British Journal of Psychiatry, 184, 163-168.

Declaration of interest: none.