Psychiatric morbidity among ICU patients at a general hospital in India

Psychiatric morbidity among ICU patients at a general hospital in India is of interest. Psychiatric diagnosis was assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), while illness severity was measured with the APACHE-II scale for 400 ICU patients. The results revealed that, 65.5% prevalence of psychiatric disorders were 2 times higher than the primary care settings 23-42.5% and the parameters like mood 28.2% and anxiety 24.5%. Disorders predominated, with 72.4% prevalence in CNS patient's vs 42.1% in others and the results also showed that, there was 82.3% morbidity in >70yr vs 36.4% in <30yr (p<0.001). These findings mandate protocolized psychiatric screening for ICU patients, particularly targeting elderly males, those with CNS/respiratory disorders and APACHE-II scores >30. The research findings had suggested that, implementing brief MINI assessments during ICU rounds could significantly improve the detection and management of comorbid mental health conditions in critical care settings.