RESUMEN
We studied all the case notes of patients admitted to Jeddah Psychiatric Hospital in a period of 1 year, aiming at delineating the pattern of admission and the related sociocultural factors. In spite of the difficulties and drawbacks inherent in such retrospective studies on hospital populations, few, but albeit, significant intrasample differences emerged due to sex. In contrast to the universal excess of females among psychiatric patients, we found males always outnumbering females with a ratio of 2 to 1 as out-patients and in-patients. Females were also found to have a better chance of getting married in the presence of mental illness, but showed higher rates of divorce. Other significant differences due to sex were the length of stay in hospital per index admission and the nature of symptoms prevailing in the period immediately before admission