FURTHER CHANGE IN THE PATTERN OF MENTAL-ILLNESS IN THE ELDERLY

The methods of Roth's 1948-49 Graylingwell study, previously applied to a Crichton cohort of elderly patients of the years 1974-76, were repeated in 1984-86. The results support the continuing validity of Roth's classification of mental illness in the elderly, but changes in the diagnostic distribution of the cohort, previously observed in the 1970s study, are further in evidence in the 1980s one. Admissions of dementia cases continued to increase both relatively and absolutely, while the trend of increasing survival in dementia also continued.