Dasherkandi project studies. Demography, morbidity and mortality in a rural community of Bangladesh.

ABSTRACT

The entire population of Dasherkandi, a village near Dacca city was surveyed. Out of 1181 people 44.2% suffered from organic or psychiatric disorders. 37.7% suffered from physical disorders, 3.6% suffered from psychiatric disorders and another 2.9% suffered from both psychiatric and physical disorders. The common physical disorders were worm infestations, hypertension, peptic ulcer, dental problems and upper respiratory tract infection including flu. Females suffered from psychiatric diseases more than males. The psychiatric morbidity found in the survey differed significantly from those found in other similar surveys. Depressive states were the commonest psychiatric disorder and women suffered four times as frequently as men. Anxiety neurosis was the next common psychiatric problem. Both crude mortality and infant mortality rates (5.75 and 93.20 per thousand respectively) were lower than those of other similar studies. The commonest cause of infant mortality during first one month of life was tetanus in this series. Inspite of the fact that diagnosis was based entirely on clinical findings the morbidity rate was high. It was observed that a high percentage of the people who suffered from psychiatric disorders were due to problems which can be easily tackled under field conditions.