Prevalence of Common Mental Disorders in hypertensive patients: a study in a primary health care unit at Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

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Many studies point out association of common mental disorders and female gender, low income, low educational level, sleep disturbance and chronic diseases. The purpose of this descriptive study was to estimate the prevalence of common mental disorders in 92 hypertensive patients at a primary care service at <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Rio de Janeiro, through the Goldberg’s General Health Questionnaire. The sample average age was 59 years old, being 82,6% women, 57,3% with incomplete elementary school; 50% with moderate and 32% with mild hypertension; 27,2% with less than 5 years and 35,9% with 5 up to 10 years since the diagnostic has been done; 40,2% with less than 5 years and 34,8% with 5 up to 10 years of treatment. The overall prevalence of common mental disorders was 29,3%; sleep disorders 45,3%; psychosomatic disorders 35,9%; psychological stress 19,6%. Women have showed a higher prevalence than men in all examined factors, except psychosomatic disorders. The highest prevalence of general and specific factors was founded among 45 to 54 years old subjects, incomplete elementary school, diagnostic awareness and treatment seeking up to 10 years. The study concluded that the prevalence of common mental disorders in hypertensive patients can be higher at initial and intermediate phases of treatment and a high proportion of patients seem to begin the treatment later and men show a higher prevalence of psychosomatic disorders than women and a smaller search for treatment.