Mental disorders in primary care in Israel: prevalence and risk factors

• Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology Vol. 48; no. 10; pp. 1539 - 1554
• Main Authors: Laufer, Neil, Zilber, Nelly, Jecsmien, Pablo, Maoz, Binyamin, Grupper, Daniel, Hermesh, Haggai, Gilad, Royi, Weizman, Abraham, Munitz, Hanan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.10.2013; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Anxiety; Biological and medical sciences; Clinics; Comparative analysis; Epidemiology; Female; General aspects; Generalized anxiety disorder; Health planning; Health services; Humans; Interviews as Topic; Israel - epidemiology; Male; Medical research; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Medicine, Experimental; Mental disorders; Mental Disorders - diagnosis; Mental Disorders - epidemiology; Mental Disorders - psychology; Mental health care; Mentally ill; Middle Aged; Morbidity; Original Paper; Post traumatic stress disorder; Prevalence; Primary care; Primary Health Care - statistics & numerical data; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Questionnaires; Risk Factors; Socioeconomic Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; Asia; Israel; Prevalence; Mental disorders; Epidemiology; Primary care; Risk factors; Social environment; Human; Primary health care; Risk factor; Mental health; Mental disorder; Public health
• ISSN: 0933-7954; 1433-9285
• DOI: 10.1007/s00127-012-0620-8

Objective Psychiatric morbidity is common among patients in primary care services and leads to disability and increased use of medical services. Comparison of primary care and community prevalence data is of interest in relation to the health services planning for mental disorders. The aim of the present study was to measure prevalence of mental disorders in six primary care clinics in Israel and to assess risk factors for these disorders. Method Prevalence of mental disorders was measured in a sample of 2,948 primary care consecutive attendees, using two-stage stratified sampling with the General Health Questionnaire 12 (GHQ-12) and the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). Results A high rate (46.3 %) of current mental disorders was found, with rates of current depressive episode, generalized anxiety disorder, somatization disorder, and neurasthenia being relatively high in comparison with rates in other countries. Low education was a risk factor for all categories of disorders, unemployment a risk factor for depressive disorders, and parenthood was protective for most categories of disorders. Conclusions High rates of mental disorders were found in this Israeli primary care sample as compared to other countries, while in the community the rates were midrange as compared to other countries, pointing to a relatively higher use of primary care services by patients with mental disorders in Israel than in other countries.