Yousif Ali Yaseen
University of Duhok, Iraq
Title: Somatoform disorders in out-patient psychiatric setting: An overview
Biography
Biography: Yousif Ali Yaseen
Abstract
Background: This study aimed at assessing the prevalence and risk factors of Somatoform disorders (SDs), their types and common presenting symptoms of conversion disorder (CD).
Patients & Methods: This study had been conducted at outpatient Psychiatric Clinic in Azadi Teaching Hospital, Duhok City, in which 637 patients were selected randomly. (SCID-I/P) (Version 2.0) was applied to diagnose patients with SDs. (SPSS), version 21, was used for data analysis.
Results: The prevalence of SDs appeared to be (24%). CD comprised the vast majority of SDs 75.82%, followed by somatization disorder 7.84% and undifferentiated SD 5.22%. Most of the cases were females (75.85%), the result showed high statistical significant association of the gender to SD (p-value<0.001). Majority of the cases were from the youngest age group (15-25 years), they comprised (60.1%), the association of the age to SD appeared statistically significant too (p-value=0.024). Although, more than two-third of the cases were from lower educational levels (illiterate and primary educational level) (67.3%), more than fifty percent were married (52.3%), majority were housewives (39.2%) and more than half of the cases were from urban areas (52.3%), but no significant association were found between SD and educational level, marital status, occupation, and residence (p-values were 0.218, 0.659, 0.072, 0.090 respectively). Regarding the symptomatic presentation of CD, vast majority of the cases presented with seizure which comprised (81%), followed by motor symptoms which comprised (17.2%), and sensory symptoms which constituted (1.7%) only.
Conclusions: The prevalence of SDs appeared high; the vast majority cases of SDs were CD. The risk factors for SDs included being female and young. Regarding the presenting symptoms of CD, seizures comprised the vast majority.