BACKGROUND: Psychiatric morbidity studies in developing countries have used diagnostic procedures of low reliability, without a clinical definition of caseness, producing descriptive data with limited application for mental health planning. METHOD: A two-stage cross-sectional design (with a sample size of 6476) was conducted to estimate the prevalence of DSM-III psychiatric diagnoses in three metropolitan areas of Brazil (Brasília, São Paulo and Porto Alegre). All subjects were screened for the presence of psychopathology with a 44-item instrument (the QMPA) and a subsample was selected for a psychiatric interview. RESULTS: Age-adjusted prevalence of cases potentially in need of care ranged from 19% (São Paulo) to 34% (Brasília and Porto Alegre). Anxiety disorders comprised the highest prevalences (up to 18%). Alcoholism yielded the most consistent prevalence levels, around 8% in all sites. Depression showed great variation between areas: from less than 3% (São Paulo and Brasília) to 10% (Porto Alegre). CONCLUSIONS: Overall prevalences were high in comparison with previous studies conducted in Brazil. A female excess of non-psychotic disorders (anxiety, phobias, somatisation and depression) and a male excess for alcoholism were consistently found.
BACKGROUND:Psychiatric morbidity studies in developing countries have used diagnostic procedures of low reliability, without a clinical definition of caseness, producing descriptive data with limited application for mental health planning. METHOD: A two-stage cross-sectional design (with a sample size of 6476) was conducted to estimate the prevalence of DSM-III psychiatric diagnoses in three metropolitan areas of Brazil (Brasília, São Paulo and Porto Alegre). All subjects were screened for the presence of psychopathology with a 44-item instrument (the QMPA) and a subsample was selected for a psychiatric interview. RESULTS: Age-adjusted prevalence of cases potentially in need of care ranged from 19% (São Paulo) to 34% (Brasília and Porto Alegre). Anxiety disorders comprised the highest prevalences (up to 18%). Alcoholism yielded the most consistent prevalence levels, around 8% in all sites. Depression showed great variation between areas: from less than 3% (São Paulo and Brasília) to 10% (Porto Alegre). CONCLUSIONS: Overall prevalences were high in comparison with previous studies conducted in Brazil. A female excess of non-psychotic disorders (anxiety, phobias, somatisation and depression) and a male excess for alcoholism were consistently found.
Authors: Gabriel Tortella; Roberta Casati; Luana V M Aparicio; Antonio Mantovani; Natasha Senço; Giordano D'Urso; Jerome Brunelin; Fabiana Guarienti; Priscila Mara Lorencini Selingardi; Débora Muszkat; Bernardo de Sampaio Pereira Junior; Leandro Valiengo; Adriano H Moffa; Marcel Simis; Lucas Borrione; André R Brunoni Journal: World J Psychiatry Date: 2015-03-22
Authors: Eugenio H Grevet; Claiton H D Bau; Carlos A I Salgado; Aline G Fischer; Katiane Kalil; Marcelo M Victor; Christiane R Garcia; Nyvia O Sousa; Luis A Rohde; Paulo Belmonte-de-Abreu Journal: Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci Date: 2006-05-12 Impact factor: 5.270