Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in young people in the care system: Table 1

Recently, professional and political concern has grown about the severity and types of problems experienced by young people in the care system, this group being one of the most vulnerable in terms of psychological disturbance. Their risk of psychiatric ill health is higher than that of any other easily identified group in our society,1 and studies have consistently identified a high incidence of behavioural problems.2 No study has systematically examined the psychiatric disorders of adolescents being looked after by local authorities, so we aimed to assess the prevalence and types of psychiatric disorder among adolescents in the care system and compare them with those of a comparison group of adolescents. All adolescents aged 13 to 17 years looked after by the Oxfordshire local authority—that is, living in residential …