PREVALENCE OF PSYCHIATRIC CONDITIONS RECOGNIZED AS LONG-TERM ILLNESS BY THE GENERAL HEALTH ASSURANCE

A reliable assessment of the prevalence of psychiatric affections is p articularly necessary for health and medico-social planning. The gener al branch of the Medical Insurance System carried out a survey in orde r to assess the socio-medical prevalence for the 30 long-term affectio ns among which a number of mental affections. This paper discusses the various methodological approaches in assessment of prevalence and bri ngs together the findings of survey with previous works (mainly of fre nch origin), corroborating their estimate for some of the affections, The existence of a simple correlation between medico-social prevalence of certains affections and their morbidity prevalence in the general population was also confirmed.