Prevalence of psychiatric morbidity at Mobile Health Clinic in an urban community in North India.
OBJECTIVE
The objective was to estimate the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity amongst patients attending Mobile Health Clinic (MHC) in an urban community in South Delhi.


METHODS
Adult subjects were recruited by systematic random sampling at outpatient MHC. Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorder Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) was used for screening, and Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.) was used for the confirmation of diagnosis of psychiatric disorder of all PHQ-positive and 20% of PHQ-negative patients. Association of selected sociodemographic factors with psychiatric morbidity was also assessed.


RESULTS
In total, 350 subjects were recruited, out of which 92 (26.3%) [95% confidence interval (CI) 21.7-31.0] were found to be PHQ positive. M.I.N.I. was administered to 141 subjects (92 PHQ positives and 52 PHQ negatives). Total estimated magnitude of psychiatric morbidity by M.I.N.I. was 25.4% (95% CI 20.9-29.9). Depression (15.7%) was observed to be the most common psychiatric disorder followed by generalized anxiety disorder (11.1%) and phobic disorders (10.1%). Suicidal ideation was reported by 37 (10.6%) patients. Literate status [odds ratio (OR)=0.43] and duration of migration >20 years to study area (OR=1.27) were found to be significantly associated with psychiatric morbidity.


CONCLUSIONS
In resource-poor country like India, high psychiatric morbidity at MHC justifies the use of MHC for providing outreach mental health services in difficult areas.
Centre for Community Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India. harshalsalve@ymail.com
Harshal
H
Salve
Kiran
K
Goswami
Baridalyne
B
Nongkynrih
Rajesh
R
Sagar
V
V
Sreenivas
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008952:Mobile Health Units; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014505:Urban Population; D055815:Young Adult