Diagnostic profile of a family practice clinic: patients with psychosocial diagnoses

A 10 percent random sample of all active patient charts in the Family Practice Clinic at the University of California, Davis, Sacramento Medical Center was analyzed for age, sex, occupation, marital status, and number of clinic visits in the previous 12 months. Diagnoses and treatments for each visit were also recorded. Thirty-six percent of all adult female patients and 26.5 percent of all adult male patients were diagnosed as having psychosocial problems. Patients with psychosocial diagnoses made more visits for both acute and chronic illnesses and were more frequently diagnosed with illnesses in every diagnostic category than were other patients. Women, patients in blue-collar occupations, and patients who had never married or were divorced were most likely to have psychosocial diagnoses. Of the patients with psychosocial diagnoses, 18.8 percent were treated with antidepressants, 16.0 percent with pain medications, and 11.1 percent with tranquilizers.