[Epidemiology of anxiety in the hospital].
A very common though very often neglected problem is the anxiety among hospitalized patients. A group of nurses of the Matera hospital tried to quantify the prevalence of such a problem collecting data on patients treated during the hospital stay, admitted or discharged with a prescription of tranquillizers. Over 941 patients observed, 59 (6.2%) were treated with benzodiazepines, neuroleptics or antidepressants, the prevalence being higher in the medical wards (8.9%) than in the surgical ones (4.5%). The problem most commonly treated in the medical wards is the anxiety and the insomnia in the surgical wards. The most frequently prescribed drugs (47 patients, 79.6%) are the benzodiazepines. This is one of the first attempts to quantify the prevalence of anxiety in an hospital population. Although number of patients treated is limited the overall management of anxiety can be improved.
D001007:Anxiety / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002491:Central Nervous System Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004363:Drug Utilization; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D002491:Central Nervous System Agents