REFERRAL OF ASIAN PATIENTS TO A GI CLINIC

This study compared gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms and psychiatric mor bidity in consecutive new out-patients presenting to a district genera l hospital. In a 6-month period 36 patients of South Asian origin were referred to the clinic. They were compared in terms of GI symptoms an d psychiatric morbidity with white European controls, both with a larg e sample of clinic attenders, and with a subsample of 36 matched for a ge, gender, and diagnosis. A total of 72% (26 of 36) of Asian patients had functional GI disorders compared to 48% (42 of 88) of white patie nts (p < 0.05). However, comparisons of matched patients showed that A sian patients with functional GI disorders had less severe GI symptoms than the matched white patients, and fewer had psychiatric disorder ( 23% of Asians and 42% of white Europeans). These results suggest that the threshold for referral for Asian patients with functional GI disor ders to hospital clinics is lower than for white patients. Detection a nd management of somatization in Asian patients in primary care need t o be improved, and referral patterns of general practitioners need to be explored in future research. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science In c.