The prevalence of affective and anxiety disorders in primary care practice in Hungary.

The lifetime and point prevalence of affective and anxiety disorders were investigated with the aid of the DIS questionnaire in 15 primary care practices among patients aged 18 to 60. According to the DSM-III-R criteria, 43% of the eligible 301 patients had had some kind of affective or anxiety disorder till the time of the assessment. Major depression was found to be the most common lifetime diagnosis (18%). At the time of the investigation 15% of the patients were suffering from affective or anxiety disorder (point prevalence) calling for clinical therapy. Females had significantly higher numbers of lifetime and point diagnoses of affective and anxiety disorders. Sixty percent of patients failed to report psychiatric complaints to their doctor, and in social phobia this figure was as high as 87%. Our results are in accordance with international findings and underline the need to diagnose and treat psychiatric patients already at the stage of the primary care service.