PREVALENCE OF PSYCHIATRIC MORBIDITY AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS AMONG PHYSICAL MEDICINE DEPARTMENT OUTPATIENTS

The aim of the investigation was to study psychiatric morbidity and associated factors in patients visiting a general hospital physical medicine and rehabilitation outpatient department. Psychiatric morbidity was assessed by means of 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). The presence of psychosomatic symptoms was assessed with a 13-item version developed by Derogatis (PS score). The reported pain was assessed by means of a pain figure. The physiatric diagnosis, sociodemographic variables, financial status, and social support were assessed. A total of 213 consecutive patients were screened. The frequency of psychiatric morbidity was 64%. The highest frequency (70%) was found in patients with physiatric diagnosis related to the back. In general, patients with psychiatric morbidity (GHQ score >2) did not show statistically significant differences with regard to age, sex, marital status, and education from the subjects without psychiatric morbidity. Patients with psychiatric morbidity experienced their financial status as poor more often than the rest (p<0.001), but in social support received no difference was found between the groups. Psychosomatic symptoms were more frequent in patients with psychiatric morbidity (p<0.001), and they scored higher in the pain figure test (p<0.05). According to our results psychiatric morbidity is surprisingly common in physical medicine patients. To gain a more comprehensive view of the typical physical medicine patient, factors related to mental well-being should be taken into account, as they seem to markedly modify the clinical presentation of this patient category.