title: Psychiatric morbidity among physically ill persons in eastern Nepal.
abstract: This cross-sectional hospital-based study investigated the prevalence and pattern of psychiatric morbidity among 151 physically ill psychiatric-referred cases admitted various departments in BPKIHS. Consecutive referral cases were initially worked up by junior residents and diagnosis/differential diagnosis was made by consultant according to ICD-10 diagnostic guidelines. Of total 151; M: 77 (50.9%) and F: 74 (49.1); Majority 38 (25.1%) of subjects were young with age 15-24 yrs and 95 (62.9%) were from plains. About 21.8% referrals came from internal medicine followed by emergency department, 9 (5.9%). The highest number of cases 48 (31.7%) had neuropsychiatric illnesses and 17.0% had some medical complications resulted from suicide act. Among psychiatric co morbidity, dissociative/conversion disorders were the commonest 26 (17.2%) followed by alcohol use-related disorders 25 (16.5%) and depressive disorder 20 (13.2%). To conclude, the co-occurrence of medical and psychological/psychiatric conditions is common, which demands timely identification and early interventions in order to reduce morbidity and mortality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, (BPKIHS), Dharan, Nepal. pshyangwa@yahoo.com
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Shyangwa
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sherchan
authors.forename: K B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Thapa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009390:Nepal / Q000453:epidemiology; D009790:Occupations; D015995:Prevalence; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012307:Risk Factors