title: Prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in the primary health clinic attendees in Kuwait.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A substantial proportion of primary clinic attendees suffer from psychiatric disorders and many of them are neither recognized nor adequately treated by primary clinic physicians.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine the point prevalence of, and identify risk factors for, depression, anxiety, and somatisation disorder in the primary health clinics in the country.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Physical Health Questionnaires (PHQ-SADs), were administered to a randomized sample of 1046 primary clinic attendees in all the five governorates of the country over a 5-month period. The descriptive data were computed with chi-square tests while the association of demographic characteristics with psychiatric disorders was determined with the logistic regression test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  42.7% of the our patients suffered from psychiatric disorders including depressive (22.9%), anxiety (17.7%), and somatization (33.4%) disorder. Comorbidity between the three disorders was found in 20.4% of the sample; 11% had two and 10.4% had all three disorders. The Kuwaiti nationals, female gender, older age group subjects and those with lower level of education were more likely to suffer from psychiatric disorder.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The inter-rater reliability may have affected the results as large number of physicians were responsible for administering the questionnaires. Moreover, the study did not include eating and substance-abuse disorders and the findings were limited to detection of somatization, depression, and anxiety disorders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In order to ensure timely provision of appropriate treatment, the primary care physicians need adequate information on different forms of presentation, and basic front line treatment, of the common mental disorders at the primary care level.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Health Sciences Center, PO Box 24923 Safat, Kuwait 13110, Kuwait.
authors: Sulaiman
authors: S
authors: Alkhadhari
authors: Abdullah & Shereefa Almehry Health Center (Alkhaldia Poly Clinic), Alasima Primary Health Area, Kuwait.
authors: Aseel Omran
authors: AO
authors: Alsabbrri
authors: Abdullah & Shereefa Almehry Health Center (Alkhaldia Poly Clinic), Alasima Primary Health Area, Kuwait.
authors: Ibrahim H A
authors: IH
authors: Mohammad
authors: Abdullah & Shereefa Almehry Health Center (Alkhaldia Poly Clinic), Alasima Primary Health Area, Kuwait.
authors: Amina Abdullah
authors: AA
authors: Atwan
authors: Technical Department in the Ministry of Health, Kuwait.
authors: Fatma
authors: F
authors: Alqudaihi
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Health Sciences Center, PO Box 24923 Safat, Kuwait 13110, Kuwait. Electronic address: Zahid@hsc.edu.kw.
authors: Muhammad Ajmal
authors: MA
authors: Zahid
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007730:Kuwait / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Anxiety; Depression; Kuwait; Mental health; Primary clinics