Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T18:22:28.016Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Frequency of Psychiatric Disorders among Patients Attending Semi-Urban and Rural General Out-Patient Clinics in Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

M. Dhadphale ,
R. H. Ellison  and
L. Griffin
M. Dhadphale
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
R. H. Ellison
Affiliation:
Africa, Ciba-Geigy, P.O. Box 46057, Nairobi, Kenya
L. Griffin
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The prevalence of psychiatric morbidity (PM) was studied among general hospital out-patients in a rural and in a semi-urban area of Kenya. There were no significant differences in the demographic features of psychiatric patients from the two areas, so the results were pooled: this gave a PM prevalence rate of 29 per cent among 388 patients. Anxiety and depression were the most frequent diagnostic categories. Alcoholism was more common in the rural than in the semi-urban area. There was no sex difference in the prevalence of PM and possible reasons for this, which is in contrast to western findings, are discussed.

Psychiatric symptoms could be readily elicited when present. Patients showing them had been ill longer than non-PM patients.

The study suggests that clinic staff not psychiatrically trained should be able to identify and treat psychiatric morbidity, even when it is presented as somatic illness.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 142 , Issue 4 , April 1983 , pp. 379 - 383
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acuda, S. W. (1982) Presentation of psychiatric illness in East Africa. Postgraduate Doctor—Africa. January issue, 20–3.Google Scholar
Ananth, J. (1978) Psychopathology in Indian females. Social Science and Medicine, 12B, 177–8.Google Scholar
Briscoe, M (1982) Sex Difference in Psychological Well-Being. (Monograph). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Brown, G. W. & Harris, T. (1978) Social Origins of Depression. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Dhadphale, M. & Ellison, R. (1982) Frequency of mental disorders among outpatients at a rural district hospital in Kenya. The Central African Journal of Medicine, 28, (4), 85–89.Google Scholar
German, G. A. (1972) Mental disorders. In: Medicine in the Tropical Environment, pp 329–47. (eds. Shaper, A. G., Hurt, M. S. R. and Kibukamusoke, J. W.). London: British Medical Association.Google Scholar
German, G. A. & Arya, O. P. (1969) Psychiatric morbidity among a Ugandan student population. British Journal of Psychiatry, 115, 1323–9.Google Scholar
Giel, R., Gezahegn, Y. & Van Luijk, J. N. (1968) Psychiatric morbidity in 200 Ethiopian medical outpatients. Psychiatria Neurologia Neurochirurgia, 71, 169–76.Google ScholarPubMed
Giel, R. & Van Luijk, J. N. (1969) Psychiatric morbidity in a small Ethiopian town. British Journal of Psychiatry, 115, 149–62.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P., Cooper, B., Eastwood, M. R., Kedward, H. B. & Shepherd, M. (1970) Standardized psychiatric interview for use in community surveys. British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine, 24, 18–23.Google Scholar
Goldberg, D. P. & Blackwell, B. (1970) Psychiatric illness in general practice: detailed study using a new method of case presentation. British Medical Journal, 2, 439–43.Google Scholar
Gove, W. R. (1978) Sex differences in mental illness among adult men and women. Social Science and Medicine, 12B, 187–98.Google Scholar
Harding, T. W., Arango de, M. V., Beltazar, J., Climent, C. E., Ibrahim, H. H. A., Ladrigo-Ignacio, L., Srinivasa-Murthy, R. & Wig, N. N. (1980) Mental disorders in primary health care: a study of their frequency and diagnosis in four developing countries. Psychological Medicine, 10, 231–41.Google Scholar
Holmes, J. A. & Speight, A. N. P. (1975) The problem of non-organic illness in Tanzanian urban medical practice. East African Medical Journal, 52, 5, 225–36.Google Scholar
Isaac, M. K. & Kapur, R. L. (1980) A cost-effectiveness analysis of three different methods of case finding in the general population. British Journal of Psychiatry, 137, 540–6.Google Scholar
Mbanefo, S. E. (1971) The General Practitioner and Psychiatry. In Psychiatry and Mental Health Care in General Practice. University of Ibadan, Dept. of Psychiatry and Neurology.Google Scholar
McEvoy, P. J. & McEvoy, H. F. (1976) Management of psychiatric problems in a Kenyan mission hospital. British Medical Journal, i, 1454–6.Google Scholar
Ndetei, D. M. & Muhangi, J. (1979) The prevalence and clinical presentation of psychiatric illnesses in a rural setting in Kenya. British Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 269–72.Google Scholar
Orley, J. & Wing, J. K. (1979) Psychiatric disorders in two African villages. Archives of General Psychiatry, 36, 513–20.Google Scholar
Otieno, O., Owola, J. A. & Oduor, P. A. (1979) A study of alcoholism in a rural setting in Kenya. East African Medical Journal, 56, 665–70.Google Scholar
Shepherd, M. (1982) Who should treat neurotic disorders? The Lancet, i, 1173–5.Google Scholar
Shepherd, M., Cooper, B., Brown, A. C. & Kalton, G. W. (1966) Psychiatric Illness in General Practice. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Smartt, C. C. F. (1956) Mental adjustment in the East African. Journal of Mental Science, 102, 441–66.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (1965) International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Causes of Death, 8th Revision. Geneva: World Health Organization.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.