Psychiatric co-morbidity in primary care and hospital referrals, Saudi Arabia

Psychiatric and physical morbidities among patients referred from primary health care [PHC] centres and general hospitals [GH] in Al-Qassim region were compared. Thus, 540 psychiatric referrals [GH = 138; PHC = 402] were selected randomly. Fifteen GH patients but no PHC patients were referred for admission. Psychiatrists made more diagnoses of dementia, affective and anxiety disorders, mixed anxiety-depression and somatoform disorders than clinicians and general practitioners [GPs]. Clinicians made significantly more diagnoses of acute psychoses and somatoform disorders than GPs. Physical morbidity was noted in 38.4% and 17.2% of GH and PHC referrals respectively