BRAZILIAN MULTICENTRIC STUDY OF PSYCHIATRIC MORBIDITY - METHODOLOGICAL FEATURES AND PREVALENCE ESTIMATES

Background Psychiatric morbidity studies in developing countries have used diagnostic procedures of tow reliability, without a clinical defi nition of caseness, producing descriptive data with limited applicatio n for mental health planning. Method A two-stage cross-sectional desig n (with a sample size of 6476) was conducted to estimate the prevalenc e of DSM-III psychiatric diagnoses in three metropolitan areas of Braz il (Brasilia, Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre), All subjects were screened for the presence of psychopathology with a 44-item instrument (the QMP A) and a subsample was selected for a psychiatric interview. Results A ge-adjusted prevalence of cases potentially in need of care ranged fro m 19% (Sao Paulo) to 34% (Brasilia and Porto Alegre). Anxiety disorder s comprised the highest prevalences (up to 18%). Alcoholism yielded th e most consistent prevalence levels, around 8% in all sites. Depressio n showed great variation between areas: from less than 3% (Sao Paulo a nd Brasilia) to 10% (Porto Alegre). Conclusions Overall prevalences we re high in comparison with previous studies conducted in Brazil. A fem ale excess of non-psychotic disorders (anxiety, phobias, somatisation and depression) and a male excess for alcoholism were consistently fou nd.