[Frequency of psychotic-like symptoms among adults consulting general practitioners]

To assess the frequency of the most frequently observed psychotic-like symptoms in adults consulting general practitioners and to describe their principal characteristics and management.

Observational epidemiologic survey of 1200 randomly selected general practitioners, distributed throughout France. The symptoms considered were those modified from the BPRS (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale). During the two-week survey, practitioners recorded the total number of children and adults consulting them and the number with psychotic-like symptoms. They described the characteristics and management of the first three adults with these symptoms (chronological selection).

The mean rate of adults with psychotic-like symptoms was 4.9 +/- 8.1% (95% confidence interval: 4.4, 5.4%) during the 12 618 consultation days assessed. The mean age of these patients was 52 years, with equal numbers of men and women. At the consultation, 18.6% were disabled or on short-term sick-leave from work because of the psychiatric disorder; 35.3% of the patients had no known history of psychiatric disorders. Nearly all these patients (95.2%) had more than one psychotic-like symptom. The principal such symptoms were: "changes in behavior, presentation, or interpersonal relations" (62.0%), "bizarre behavior" (48.2%), "depression" and "anxiety" (49.7 and 42.2%), "unusual thought content" or "conceptual disorganization" (29.3 and 26.9%). Most patients received outpatient pharmaceutical management.

We observed a greater frequency of psychotic-like symptoms in adults consulting general practitioners than expected.