This study examined all 22,940 patients discharged from psychiatric hospitals in Finland during 1988. The register follow-up extended up to 1992. In the course of the follow-up period a total of 3,936 patients died, including 437 male suicides & 233 female suicides. The standardized mortality ratio of the discharged psychiatric patients was almost 4 times higher than that of the general population. The study found the proportion of unnatural causes of death, including accidents in the young age groups & a much higher suicide standardized mortality ratio among young women to be particularly striking. Results of the study comfirm previous findings of increased mortality among psychiatric patients compared to the general population. It is suggested more attention needs to be paid to the care of young patients & to supporting patients during the transition from hospital to community care. (24 refs.)