Psychiatric disorders in inpatients on a neurology ward: estimate of prevalence and usefulness of screening questionnaires.
BACKGROUND
Patients on neurology wards have been shown to have high rates of psychiatric illness. Prevalence figures of 39-64% have been reported previously. However a low rate of recognition of psychiatric illness is also observed in this population.


OBJECTIVE
To estimate the prevalence of psychiatric illness in neurology inpatients in a regional neuroscience centre and to assess the sensitivity and specificity of a batch of screening questionnaires.


METHODS
Patients were assessed using the following screening questionnaires: Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders, Mini Mental State Examination, Frontal Assessment Battery, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and a neurologist-rating scale of organicity. All patients also had a full psychiatric assessment using the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV). The screening questionnaires were then compared with our "gold standard", the psychiatric assessment.


RESULTS
The prevalence of psychiatric illness (as determined by the psychiatric interview) in neurology inpatients in a tertiary referral centre was found to be 51.3% (95% confidence interval 44 to 58%). The sensitivity of this batch of screening questionnaires is 81.2% and the specificity is 77.1%.


CONCLUSIONS
A high prevalence of psychiatric disorder was observed in inpatients on a dedicated neurology ward. The screening questionnaires used had a high sensitivity and specificity and could therefore be used as a simple way of identifying those with psychiatric illness.
Jefferies
Kate
K
Farnham Road Hospital, Guildford, Surrey GU2 7LX, UK. katejefferies@tiscali.co.uk
Owino
Arthur
A
Rickards
Hugh
H
Agrawal
Niruj
N
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006268:Health Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009422:Nervous System Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000628:therapy; D015995:Prevalence