Mental disease in a forensic autopsy population of alcoholics.

A retrospective examination of fatalities was carried out during a five-year period among alcoholics in Copenhagen who had undergone forensic examination. The frequency of mental disease was compared with that among a non-alcoholic control group. In an examination of 2298 deaths, it was found that alcoholics had a higher frequency of unipolar affective disorder and of general "nervousness'. Previous suicide attempts were more frequent in alcoholics, and both alcoholics and controls had a higher frequency of previous suicide attempts among the depressed and those who later committed suicide than among those who did not.