Prevalence of psychiatric disorders among Saudi adolescent girls in a Riyadh City high school

Abstract EN

Objective: Studies have shown that mental health problems at an early age can lead to greater impairment in adult life.

Epidemiological evidence on the prevalence and incidence of mental health disorders is fundamental for planning mental health services.

However, such data are lacking in Saudi Arabia.Method: This two-stage epidemiological study used the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to screen all eligible participants for the presence of a possible psychiatric disorder.

A structured psychiatric interview (MINI-Kid) was administered to a subsample to confirm the presence or absence of psychiatric disorders.

Results: A total of 4745 participants were screened in the first stage, and 692 participants underwent follow-up interviews.

Results revealed the most common disorders were agoraphobia, with a prevalence of 30.6%; major depression, with a prevalence of 30.0%; and separation anxiety, with a prevalence of 27.1%.

Although many factors were expected to predict the diagnosis of a psychiatric disorder, having a private teacher was the only significant factor (OR=1.87, p=.013).

Conclusion: Agoraphobia, major depression and separation anxiety are the most common psychiatric disorders among Saudi adolescent girls.

The only factor that predicted a psychiatric disorder was having a private teacher.