Young people have highest rate of psychiatric admissions

Young people aged 20 to 24 had the highest rate of admissions to psychiatric hospitals of all age groups last year, new figures show.

The Activities of Irish Psychiatric Units and Hospitals 2015 report published on Thursday provides data on national admissions, national discharges and deaths in all psychiatric settings, including hospitals and community-based organisations.

Those between 20-24 had a rate of just under 578 per 100,000 of the population.

Teenagers aged 18 and 19 had the highest rate of first admissions at 287 per 100,000 which has been the case for seven of the last 10 years.

Depression, schizophrenia, mania and alcoholic disorders were the main diagnosis for admissions.

The most common diagnosis recorded was depressive disorders, which accounted for 27 per cent of all, 30 per cent of first and 25 per cent of re-admissions.

Schizophrenia accounted for 20 per cent of all, 13 per cent of first and almost 24 per cent of re-admissions and had the second-highest rate of all admissions at 77.8 per 100,000.

More than four out of 10 (41 per cent) of all admissions to psychiatric units last year were of people who were unemployed.

There were 281 admissions with no fixed abode. Nearly three quarters (74 per cent) of these were male and 76 per cent were single.

Chief executive of the Health Research Board, Dr Graham Love, said the report provided essential data to inform decision-making in relation to planning for mental health services.