[Treated psychopathological morbidity: demographic and diagnostic features]

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Epidemiology
• Public Health

Background:

• The study investigates the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders in an outpatient setting.
• Understanding mental health morbidity rates is crucial for public health planning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the population-based standardized morbidity rates for psychiatric disorders in adult outpatients.
• To identify the most prevalent psychiatric conditions treated in a Spanish public healthcare unit.

Main Methods:

• A six-month study of all outpatients aged 16 and older at a Psychiatric Unit.
• Diagnosis adherence to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition (DSM-III) criteria.
• Calculation of population-based standardized morbidity rates using demographic data from a defined catchment area.

Main Results:

• A total of 688 patients were treated, with a morbidity rate of 8.22 per 1,000 population.
• Generalized anxiety disorder was the most frequent diagnosis (rate of 2.36), followed by depressive episode (2.27), somatization (0.80), and panic disorder (0.74).
• Disorders with somatic symptoms, such as somatization and panic disorder, were treated more often than those with psychic symptoms like obsessive-compulsive disorder and phobias.

Conclusions:

• Generalized anxiety disorder represents a significant public health concern in this population.
• The study highlights a higher treated morbidity compared to some European centers but lower than US sites.
• There is a notable trend towards treating somatic symptom disorders more frequently than psychic disorders in this outpatient setting.