Surveillance of Personality Disorders in Québec: Prevalence, Mortality, and Service Utilization Profile

The aim of this report is to describe the use of administrative databases to estimate the prevalence of diagnosed group B personality disorders, along with service utilization and mortality. This group will be compared to personality disorders outside of group B and to serious or common psychiatric conditions (schizophrenia, anxio-depressive disorders) concerning which the INSPQ has already published.

Group B personality disorders represent a common psychiatric condition. Their mortality rate classifies them among chronic disorders, both psychiatric and physical, with very high case fatality (Lesage et al., 2012; Lesage et al., 2015). Moreover, and notably, the excess mortality associated with this psychopathology does not take into account the psychological suffering experienced by the persons afflicted, or their relatives, or the impact experienced on the level of psychosocial functioning. The severity of this psychiatric condition quite evidently influences the service utilization profile of those who suffer from it, and this profile closely resembles that of persons with schizophrenic disorders. Given the context of the seriousness of this condition, the service utilization profiles reveal a lack of alignment with international recommendations, calling into question not the amount of resources devoted to such disorders, but rather the failure to channel those resources into specialized programs. It remains to be demonstrated that such specialized programming can significantly improve the symptoms, quality of life and life expectancy of persons with group B personality disorders.