Classification in Primary Care: Experience with Current Diagnostic Systems

Abstract

Mental disorders tend to be seen first in primary care settings around the world. To be helpful, classifications of mental disorders for primary care need to be simple. In response to these basic observations and requirements, a primary care version of the mental disorder section of ICD-10 has been developed by the WHO (ICD-10-PHC). This classification version has been used quite extensively internationally. The results of field trials with ICD-10-PHC are summarised here along with recommendations to make classifications and information systems more helpful to upgrade primary care of mental disorders around the world.

Antidepressant drugs: prevalence, incidence and indication of use in general practice of Southern Italy during the years 2003–2004

“…This discrepancy highlights the need to adopt more efficient and internationally accepted tools and standards, targeted to better identify and code mental disorders in general practice setting. A number of previously published papers [16][17][18] strongly supported the use of International Classification of Mental Disorders-Primary Health Care (ICD-10 PHC), a special edition of the ICD-10 that is addressed to GPs.…”

Evaluación e intervención de los problemas de Ansiedad y Depresión en Atención Primaria: Un Problema sin resolver

“…En todo el mundo, los problemas de salud mental suelen ser atendidos por primera vez más en las consultas de atención primaria (AP) que en las de salud mental 1,2 . En España, al menos en una de cada cinco consultas que recibe un médico de familia, el paciente va por algún problema de índole psicológica o psiquiátrica, ya que diversas investigaciones señalan que la prevalencia de psicopatología en AP se mueve entre un 22% y un 29%, pudiendo llegar incluso al 45% en algún estudio [3][4][5][6][7][8][9] .…”

A Psychometric Evaluation of the German Version of the ‘Health of the Nation Outcome Scales, HoNOS-D’: On the Feasibility and Reliability of Clinician-Performed Measurements of Severity in Patients with Mental Disorders

“…However, patients of the German sample seem to be more severely impaired, as they show higher levels of symptom severity for most items of the HoNOS-D when compared to the fi ndings by Audin et al [9] (see table 1 ). Additionally, it is quite important to establish a common language for the discussion of symptom severity in patients with mental disorders in different countries and settings [29] . The International Classifi cation of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10 [27] ) has been developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) since 1948.…”