Comorbilidad de enfermedades médicas crónicas y transtornos psiquiátricos en una población de consultantes en el nivel primario de atención / Association of chronic diseases and psychiatric disorders among patients attending public primary care clinics

RESUMO

Background: As a part of the World Health Organization multicentric study of emotional disorders in general medical care, we studied patients who had a chronic medical ailment and a psychiatric disorder, according to ICD-10. Aim: To report the prevalence of patients with coexisting medical and psychiatric disorders. Patients and methods: All patients, aged 15 to 65 years old, consulting in primary care outpatient clinics, were interviewed using a general health questionnaire. In a second phase, patients with chronic medical disorders were subjected to the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Instrument. Results: Sixty nine percent of interviewed Chilean patients had a medical condition, compared to 60,3 percent of the global study group. Of these, 66 percent had a coexisting psychiatric diagnosis, compared to 31 percent of the global study group. The most frequent diagnoses in the Chilean sample were somatization disorders in 25 percent, harmful alcohol use in 14 percent, depression in 35 percent and hypocondriasis in 6 percent. There was a higher prevalence and odds ratio for psychiatric diagnoses among Chilean women. Conclusions: Patients with chronic medical disorders should be considered a high risk group for the coexistence of psychiatric disturbances