ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of personality disorder (PD) among primary health care (PHC) patients, and to investigate the characteristic features of the International Personality Disorder Examination, the ICD-10 module (IPDE ICD-10). METHOD: A sample (n = 158) PHC patients in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates (UAE) were interviewed by general practitioners (GPs) using the Arabic version of the IPDE ICD-10. RESULTS: Patients interviewed were 82 males and 76 females. Definite PD was identified in 12.7%. Prevalence rates among males and females were 9.8 and 15.8% consecutively. Commonest personality disorders were the schizoid (5.1%), anankastic (4.4%) and the emotionally unstable, borderline type (3.8%). Comorbidity of PD was manifested by 30% of definite PD patients. The mean dimensional scores of definite and probable PD patients were 5.6 and 4.3 consecutively. CONCLUSION: The IPDE-ICD-10 is useful but relatively time consuming with repetition and need of rephrasing in some items. Dimensional measurement proved essential.
