Psychiatric Disorders Comorbidity in Two General Medical Hospitals in Iran Between 2014 - 2015

Background: Although there is a high prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in patients in general medical hospitals, they have remained undiagnosed in some cases. Objectives: This study was conducted to determine the psychiatric disorders comorbidity of patients in two general medical hospitals in Iran. Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in Imam Khomeini and Bu Ali Sina general university hospitals, in Sari, Northern Iran, and included 1,688 patients from different wards of these hospitals. Data were collected via a demographic questionnaire. Results: With regard to frequency distribution, according to age group and gender, the most consultations (393; 23.3%) were in the 20 - 29 year’s age group and 935 (55.4 %) cases were female. The highest number of consultation cases had been referred from the emergency wards (34%), followed by the neurosurgery (14.2%) and internal medicine wards (14.2%). Psychological assessment was the most common reason for requesting a consultation (26.8 %). In addition, the results indicated that mood disorder (22.3%) was the most prevalent psychiatric diagnosis. Conclusions: In order to improve the trend of psychiatric diagnosis in general hospitals, psychiatric liaison staff should be trained in multiple consulting roles, and must improve their skills in addressing inpatient and outpatient treatment. Moreover, other nonpsychiatric physicians should increase their knowledge of attitude toward and psychosocial aspects of medical disorders.