Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in an outpatient service of general medicine Prevalencia de trastornos psiquiatricos en un consultorio externo de medicina general.

Abstract

A psychiatric evaluation was performed in 100 patients attending the outpatient clinic of a large general university hospital. Psychiatric diagnosis followed the DSM-III-R criteria. 66 were female and the mean age was 50 years. The clinical diagnosis for the consulting problem related mainly to cardiovascular, metabolic, gastrointestinal and respiratory problems. Some psychiatric disorder was present in 55% of patients, mainly in the area of mood and adaptation problems. A psychiatric diagnosis was made by the general physician in only 14 patients and was labelled as neurosis of anxiety state. Our results show a high prevalence of psychiatric disorders in patients who consult in general clinics. A better psychiatric training of clinicians in charge of primary medical care is needed.