Anxiety and dysthymia: local prevalence estimates based on drug prescriptions by general practitioners in Turin...

The aim of the study was to obtain local estimates of the prevalence of anxiety and dysthymic disorders among attendees of primary care at local level, useful to pursue a better management of the health care services.

The study was conducted in the Health District no. 2 of Turin (industrial town in northwest Italy). The criteria for identification of cases were based on the drugs prescriptions made by general practitioners (GPs), selected in order to assure high specificity. The study involved 86 physicians (with 87,885 attendees).

As expected, the crude and standardized prevalences were higher in women (anxiety: 2.9% vs 1.3% in men; dysthymia: 3.8% vs 1.7% in men), with a peak in women aged over 75 yrs (anxiety: 4.8%; dysthymia: 6.2%). In comparison to male GPs, female GPs had an higher prevalence of patients with anxious disorders, whereas the prevalences of dysthymia were similar.

Despite the discussed limitations, the used methodology allows to obtain sufficiently reliable estimates of prevalence of common mental disorders at local level, providing informations useful for organizing the primary care in the Health district.