Screening for somatic symptom disorder and its co-morbidity with depressive and anxiety disorders in Sudan

Abstract EN

Background : it is well established that a substantial proportion of primary care patients experience common psychiatric disorders with somatic symptoms.

there is limited research on the psychiatric profile of patients presenting to the primary care facilities in Sudan.

aim : the current study assessed the prevalence of somatic symptom disorder in primary care patients to understand its correlation with generalized anxiety, depressive disorders and socio-demographic factors.

method : a prospective cohort study was conducted in a primary health center in karima in northern state, Sudan.

from march-April 2018, n=400 attendees were assessed.

participants completed the patient health questionnaire (PHQ-SADS), which embeds three scales.

a socio-demographic questionnaire was also completed.

a cut-off point ≥ 10 was considered acceptable for caseness.

results: from n=400 participants, 53% described having a psychiatric disorder.

of those reporting psychiatric disorder, 45.3% were diagnosed with somatic symptom disorder (SSD), 24.1% with depressive disorder and30.6% with anxiety disorder.

women outnumbered men by a 3:2 ratio; 61.5% were aged between 18 and 40 years; 63.8% were married and nearly half lived in rural areas.

of those reporting psychiatric disorders, the majority (74.1%) experienced two or three co-morbid conditions with 25.9% having no co-morbidity; 15.6% reported having all three disorders.

somatic symptoms and depressive disorder co-occurred in 20.3%; somatic symptom and anxiety disorder co-occurred in 19.5%; and, 18.8% had depressive and anxiety disorders.

SSD was more prevalent in women, widowed and divorced.

conclusion : there was high prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among patients, namely somatic symptom disorder, depression and anxiety disorders.

there was also a high prevalence of co-morbidity between these disorders.

results corroborated regional and international research findings and highlight the need for integrated care with more interaction and co-ordination between psychiatric and primary care providers.