The aim was to study the cause-specific mortality of users of the ED—those selleck chemicals llc who receive a diagnosis of AUDs in comparison with the mortality

of all other users of the department—while taking into consideration other psychiatric diagnoses and frequency of visits. Methods This was a prospective cohort study of all individuals who attended the ED at the LUH, and who were subsequently discharged home during the study period 2002–2008. The data consisted of computer records of patients aged 18 years and above, and comprised 107 237 individuals and 257 955 visits to the ED (an average of 2.4 visits per individual). The records contained routinely collected data on every visit, including the unique registration number of each visit, personal identification number of

the patient, gender, date of birth, time and date of admission, discharge diagnosis recorded according to the International Classification of Diseases tenth revision (ICD-10), and the time and date of discharge. The LUH, a university hospital at the forefront of specialised care in Iceland, offers tertiary care and is the principal trauma centre for the whole country. The LUH and the ED were the only acute care hospital and ED operated for adults in the larger capital area of Reykjavik (the municipalities of Reykjavik, Kopavogur, Seltjarnarnes, Gardabaer, Hafnarfjordur, Alftanes and Mosfellsbaer), and for that catchment area it served as a community hospital. At the LUH, other specialised EDs for psychiatry, paediatrics as well as gynaecology and obstetrics were operated. In 2005, the midyear population aged 18 years and above in the Reykjavik capital area was 137 124.14 The 107 237 patients attending the ED during

the study period comprised 78% of the area’s inhabitants; thus, the cohort may be considered to be population-based. Personal identification numbers were used in the record linkage of the study cohort with the National Cause-of-Death Registry to obtain information on vital status and, where applicable, the date and the cause of death according to the death certificates. The causes of death were classified according to the ICD-10. The users of the ED had, on average, visited the department more than twice during Entinostat the study period and received each time one main diagnosis that was recorded in the computer system. The diagnoses were assigned by a senior physician, or by a junior physician under the auspices of a senior, and the attending physician selected one main diagnosis as the discharge diagnosis to be entered into the computer records. All these routinely collected clinical diagnoses were according to ICD-10 criteria.