Life and last year prevalence of psychiatric disorders in primary level of care in a region of southern Chile

Abstract

Background: Primary health care treats approximately 90% of all health problems worldwide. Health service care is high among people with mental disorders; likewise, it has been established that mental disorders represent around 6% of all disability-adjusted life years lost worldwide. Objective: To identify the lifetime and last-year prevalence of mental disorders in the population assisted at the primary health care level in a city in southern Chile. Methodology: Cross-sectional study of the results of the first application of interviews to a prospective cohort carried out on a sample of 2839 patients between 18 and 75 years old treated in 10 Primary Care Centers in the Province of Concepción, Chile. Results: The life time prevalence of any disorder was 65%. 53.7% of these disorders are between the age ranges of 35 to 54 years. It is observed that female consultants present a statistically significant higher proportion of affective disorders compared to the male population (37.2% vs 18.7%, p<0.001). Conclusions: Considering the high prevalence of different mental health disorders, in spontaneous consultations in Primary Care, it is relevant to develop more and better health policies to increase access to adequate treatment, generating an expeditious and timely referral to secondary level.

Keywords

• trastornos mentales y epidemiología
• atención primaria de salud
• médicos de familia
• prevalencia
• consultantes
• chile.