Psychiatric disorders and demographic characteristics among geriatric outpatients in Canakkale State Hospital

Abstract

Psychiatric disorders and demographic characteristics among geriatric outpatients in Canakkale State HospitalObjective: The elderly population in Turkey and in the world is progressively increasing and the increase is expected to be more prominent in the future. As the elderly population grows, there will be an increasing demand on health services, resulting in rapidly rising medical, psychiatric, and social healthcare problems.The aim of the present study is to determine the distribution of psychiatric illness, including gender-based differences, demographic characteristics and prevalence within all elderly age groups, among patients visiting the general psychiatry outpatient clinic.Method: This was a retrospective study using the data of the patient registry system for elderly patients who visited the general psychiatry outpatient clinic between September 2013 and February 2014. Patients were ≥65 years of age. Patients' demographic characteristics and their Axis I diagnoses according to DSM-IV-TR were recorded.Results: Of the 1044 patients who visited the general psychiatry outpatient clinic during the 6-month period, 15% (n=158) were aged ≥65 years; 62% of the 158 patients included in the study were female and 38% were male. Depression was present in 41% of patients; 21% had generalized anxiety disorder (GAD); 8% had adjustment disorder (AD), and 7% had schizophrenia. GAD was statistically significantly higher in females and AD was statistically significantly higher in males.Conclusion: Assessing demographic data including common diagnoses and diagnostic differences between genders in elderly patients is important to improve new diagnosis and treatment strategies. Bulgular: Altı aylık süre zarfında genel psikiyatri polikliniğine başvuran 1044 hastanın %15 (n=158)'i 65 yaş ve üzerinde tespit edildi. Çalışmaya alınan 158 hastanın %62'si kadın, %38'i erkekti. En sık görülen hastalıklar sırasıyla %41 depresyon, %21 yaygın anksiyete bozukluğu (YAB), %8 uyum bozukluğu (UB), %7 şizofreniydi.Kadınlarda YAB, erkeklerde ise UB istatistiksel olarak anlamlı derecede yüksek bulundu.Sonuç: Yaşlı hastalarda sıklıkla konulan tanıların bilinmesi, cinsiyetler arası tanı farklılıklarının tespit edilmesi, demografik bulguların değerlendirilmesi bu yaş grubu hastalar için geliştirilecek yeni tanı ve tedavi stratejileri geliştirilmesi açısından oldukça önemlidir.Anahtar kelimeler: Uyum bozukluğu, depresyon, yaygın anksiyete bozukluğu, geriatrik psikiyatri

Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of Persons with Multiple Sclerosis with Psychiatric Disorders

“…Divorced pwMS was 1.77 times more likely to have a PS. Our study is consistent with reports that people with PS are more often single or divorced (13). Breslau et al (14) showed that PS is related to divorce, and Landfeldt et al (15) demonstrated that men with MS have an increased risk of divorce.…”