No abstract

Background-South Africa's history and current social conditions suggest that mental disorders are likely to be a major contributor to disease burden, but there has been no national study using standardized assessment tools.

In comparison with data from other countries, South Africa has a particularly high lifetime prevalence of substance use disorders. These disorders have an early age at onset, providing an important target for the planning of local mental health services.

Objectives-1) to determine which common mental disorders are associated with asthma in the general population after controlling for age and sex; and 2) to assess whether the associations of mental disorders with asthma are consistent across diverse countries.Methods-Eighteen population surveys of household-residing adults were carried out in 17 countries (N=85,088). Mental disorders were assessed with the CIDI 3.0, a fully structured diagnostic interview. Disorders considered here are 12-month anxiety disorders (generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder/agoraphobia, post traumatic stress disorder and social phobia), depressive disorders (dysthymia and major depressive disorder), and alcohol use disorders (abuse and dependence). Asthma was ascertained by self-report of lifetime diagnosis among a sub-sample (N=42,697). Results-The pooled estimates of the age-sex adjusted odds of mental disorder among persons with asthma relative to those without asthma were 1.6 (95% CI:1.4, 1.8) for depressive disorders, 1.5 (95% CI: 1.4, 1.7) for anxiety disorders, 1.7 (95% CI: 1.4, 2.1) for alcohol use disorders.Conclusions-This first cross-national study of the relationship between asthma and mental disorders confirms that a range of common mental disorders occurs with greater frequency among persons with asthma. These results attest to the importance of clinicians in diverse settings being alert to the co-occurrence of these conditions.