Mental care of elder people has became very important in the last decades because of the development of gerontopsychiatry as an specialized area.

The aim of our proyect is to study the first admission in people over 60 years old in a psychiatric hospital.

This is a descriptive, retrospective study. There are analyzed clinical features of the first hospitalization of people over 60 that entered the hospital of zamudio during one year.

65 people over 60 years old were admitted in the hospital for the first time. The main diagnoses were dementia (35%), bipolar disorder (35%) and psychotic disorders (24%). We didn’t find a relation neither between the days of hospitalization and the destination when release (t=-0,0503; p=0,617); nor between the days of hospitalizations and the diagnoses (ANOVA; F=0,17; p=0,841). In the other hand, there is a statistical signification between diagnoses and derivation when release, resulting that 60% of patients that went to asiles suffered from dementia (Fisher's exact test, p=0.012)

There is more evidence that some kinds of illness that start when people are old appeared to have different characteristics and probably a diverse ethiology. To resituate elder people when release depends on both psychological and social factors.