Some Influences on the Intercounty Variation in Irish Psychiatric Hospitalization Rates

Abstract

An earlier commentary on the level and regional variation of Irish hospitalized psychiatric illness was limited by the absence of age-specific and standardized data (Walsh and Walsh, 1968). The present paper presents age- and sex-standardized rates by county for 1959, and then suggests some socioeconomic influences in [partial explanation of the variation in these rates. Psychiatric services in Ireland are provided on a county basis: in eleven instances one hospital serves a single county, in six cases there is one hospital to two counties and the remaining hospital serves three counties.