Morbilidad psiquiatrica en centros de atencion primaria

Abstract

A review is presented of the principal studies from the last two decades on the magnitude and characteristics of psychiatric disorders observed in primary care centers, and a comparison is made of the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity shown by three groups of studies in which similar case-finding methods were used. Thus, results are compared for a series of 16 studies where the primary care physician was responsible for identifying cases, a series of three studies based on nonstandar psychiatric evaluation, and 13 others based on standardized psychiatric evaluation criteria (questionnaires, psychiatric interviews, and a combination of both methods). In two-thirds of the studies in which the primary care physician did the case-finding the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity ranged roughly between 12 and 32 percent regardless of diagnostic criteria. Although only a few studies based on nonstandardized psychiatric evaluations were reviewed, it is important to point out that their results were not consistent. The differences observed may be related to the methods of evaluation used. Research based on standardized psychiatric evaluation criteria showed a generally higher prevalence of morbidity than studies in which the primary care psysicians identified the cases. In two-thirds of these studies it ranged from approximately 27 to 48 pecent