Profiling mentally ill offenders in Hong Kong: A 10-year retrospective review study.

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to analyze the estimated prevalence of mental disorders among offenders and compare the estimated crime rate between mentally ill patients and the total population in Hong Kong. METHODS: Service data of offenders referred to psychiatrists at the Siu Lam Psychiatric Centre from January 2011 to December 2020 were analyzed. Demographic data of gender, age on admission, educational level, principal psychiatric diagnosis, index offense, and assessment outcome were collected. RESULTS: Data of 7535 offenders (74.8% males) aged 14 to 97 (mean: 41.3 ± 13.7) years were analyzed. More than 60% (66.2%) had a diagnosable mental disorder. The most prevalent principal psychiatric diagnosis was schizophrenia and related disorder (22.8%), followed by mental and behavioral disorders due to psychoactive substance use (18.6%), and mood disorders (8.8%). The commonest index offenses were theft and related offenses (20.5%), followed by acts intended to cause injury (19.7%), and illicit drug offenses (11.6%). The estimated prevalence of mental illness among prison population was 7.1% (male: 8.2%, female: 5.0%). The estimated crime rate for mentally ill patients was found to be 43.3 to 263.2 per 100 000 population. DISCUSSION: The estimated prevalence of mental disorders among offenders and the estimated crime rate for mentally ill patients are relatively low in Hong Kong. The result was an important effort to document the changing characteristics of mentally ill offenders and provide an estimation of the prevalence and crime rate for mentally ill patients in Hong Kong.

Comparing open and pneumovesical approach for ureteric reimplantation in pediatric patients--a preliminary review.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: In this article, we are going to report our early experience on laparoscopic pneumovesical approach for ureteric reimplantation and to compare the result with traditional open approach. METHODS: A retrospective review of patients who underwent ureteric reimplantation from 2000 to 2007 was carried out. They were divided into open and pneumovesical group according to the surgical approach. Comparison in terms of operative duration, hospital stay, and complication rate was made. RESULTS: During the study period, a total of 22 ureteric reimplantation procedures were carried out. Thirteen and nine patients were operated by open and pneumovesical approaches, respectively. The mean age for operation in the 2 groups were similar (P = .62). Although the average operation time is 38.0 minutes longer in the pneumovesical group (P = .049), patients from this group had a hospital stay 2.3 days shorter than the open group (P = .065). Regarding curative success rate, both groups show similar result and were able to achieve more than 95% success rate. No major complications were found in the 2 groups. Cost-effective analysis favors pneumovesical approach in this study. CONCLUSIONS: The pneumovesical approach is safe and effective for ureteric reimplantation in children. It offers less postoperative morbidities and shorter hospital stay when compared to traditional open method.