A Cross-sectional Study of Common Psychiatric Morbidity in Children Aged 5 to 14 Years in an Urban Slum

Study of the prevalence of common psychiatric disorders in children aged 5 to 14 years in a health post area of an urban slum.

(1) To study frequency of specific psychiatric disorders in the study population, (2) To study the relationship between sociodemographic variables and psychiatric morbidity.

The present study was conducted in one of the five health posts of an urban slum, which is a field practice area of the teaching medical institute. It was a cross-sectional study.

Sample size was estimated by using 20% as a prevalence of psychiatric morbidity which was obtained from previous studies done in developing countries. Household was used as a sampling unit and systematic random sampling method was used for selecting household. Total 257 children aged 5 to 14 years were included in the study. A pre-designed, semi-structured diagnostic interview schedule based on DSM-IV criteria was used for data collection.

The tests of significance used were Chi-square and Logistic regression analysis.

The prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in this study was 14.8%. Non-organic enuresis, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Conduct disorder, and Mental retardation were identified as the common mental health problems.

Factors like nuclear family, parents not living together, large family size, and positive family history of psychiatric disorder were associated with psychiatric morbidity in children.