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Changes in the prevalence of psychiatric disorder in a community are related to changes in the mean level of psychiatric symptoms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Joyce E. Whittington  and
Felicia A. Huppert
Joyce E. Whittington
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge
Felicia A. Huppert*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Felicia A. Huppert, University of Cambridge, Department of Psychiatry, Box 189, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge CB2 2QQ.
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Synopsis

The paper of Anderson et al. (1993), based on cross-sectional data, showed that minor psychiatric disorder in a population is linearly related to the mean number of psychiatric symptoms in the population. The present investigation asks whether the same relationship holds longitudinally as well as cross-sectionally. Data from a 7-year follow-up of a general population sample demonstrate, for the first time, that a relationship exists between changes in prevalence of psychiatric disorder and changes in the mean number of psychiatric symptoms in a given population. Moreover, the relationship is linear; a one-point decrease in mean scores on the GHQ-30 is associated with a 6% decrease in prevalence of disorder.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 26 , Issue 6 , November 1996 , pp. 1253 - 1260
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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