Psychiatric epidemiology in Turkey: main advances in recent studies and future directions.

OBJECTIVE: To overview and evaluate the main findings, methodological shortcomings, and time trends of the recent psychiatric epidemiology studies in Turkey, as well as to provide areas prone for development in forthcoming research. METHOD: PubMed and Turkish Psychiatry Index were screened to identify relevant studies. Any epidemiological study from 2000 to 2012 with a general population or unique sub-population sample was included. Papers and results were classified as depression, anxiety, psychotic, dissociative, conversion, personality, alcohol and substance abuse, and trauma-related disorders, and common geriatric disorders. RESULTS: There are various epidemiological studies on various psychiatric disorders in Turkey. However, there are main shortcomings and trends in research that subsequently stagnate current psychiatric epidemiological research. First, epidemiological studies were mainly conducted for academic purposes, not for addressing epidemiological issues or issues of health policy. Second, studies mainly focused on particular fields and institutions, which led to non-systematic accumulation of epidemiological results. Third, although Turkey is a natural laboratory of social conflicts and disasters, there were few studies with a focus on probable outcomes. Fourth, high-quality epidemiological studies with disseminating results tended to decrease, even in common mental disorders such as depression. Fifth, there were very few epidemiological studies using contemporary designs such as follow-up, genetic, or biomarker data in the general-population. CONCLUSION: Although psychiatric epidemiological studies of the last decade provide a suitable ground for future challenges, current trends in this research area has tended to stagnate, despite the potential for unique contributions. Forthcoming studies and researchers may notice novel methodological developments in epidemiology, with a growing attention on rapid urbanization, natural disasters, social conflicts, and migration.

The anxiety between individuals with and without joint hypermobility

Background and Objectives: This study was performed to compare theanxiety disorders between individuals with and without joint hypermobility. Methods: A total of 94 Turkish volunteers, 40 subjects (38 females, 2 males) with jointhypermobility and 54 controls (47 females, 7 males) without joint hypermobility, were includedin this study. We evaluated the joint hypermobility by using the Beighton scoringsystem in the participants and a Beighton score of at least 4 was considered as joint hypermobility. In addition, all cases were evaluated with Structured Clinical Interview forDSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I) and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale by a psychiatristin order to define their psychyatric disorders and anxiety levels, respectively. Results: Age, gender and educational levels of the participants were similar betweenthese two groups. Mean of anxiety score was higher statistically in the study group (13.5± 5.3) than that of the control group (11.1 ± 4.9) (p < 0.05). No statistically a significantdifference in the ratio of psychyatric disorders according to SCID-I were observed betweencases with and without hypermobility.Conclusions: Anxiety scores have been found significantly higher in the group with hypermobilitythan that of the group without hypermobility. We strongly recommend the assessmentof medical conditions, including joint hypermobility syndrome, in anxiety patients (AU)