Abstract
The aim of the study was to investigate the course of psychiatric illness in primary care patients. A 12-month follow-up study was conducted using a subsample of 93 patients, assessed by interviewing with the aid of the Present State Examination (PSE), from an original cohort of 388 primary care patients in a Swedish health district. The relationships of the course of illness to psychosocial stress, perceived health, utilization of care and health insurance, and patient satisfaction with primary health care services were investigated. The results showed that at index contact. 32.1 % of the follow-up sample were psychiatric cases in need of treatment according to the screening procedure with the Hopkins Symptom Check List (HSCL-25). The continuing cases constituted 19 % of the total follow-up sample, remitting cases, 13.1 %, new cases, 4.8 % and non-cases, 63.1 %. Continuing cases had a significantly higher utilization of ambulant care during follow-up. They also had 3 times more days of sick-leave. Poor perceived health at index contact, measured using the Nottingham Health Profile (NHP), predicted that the patient became a continuing case during follow-up. Continuing cases, to a greater extent, showed psychosocial stress concerning unemployment, private economy and loneliness/social isolation. Continuing cases also showed a lower satisfaction with primary health care services in all areas measured.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Goldberg D, Huxley P (1980) Mental illness in the community. Pathways to psychiatric care. Tavistock publications, London
Regier DA, Goldberg ID, Taube CA (1978) The de facto US mental health services system: a public health perspective. Arch Gen Psychiatry 38:685–693
Shapiro S, Skinner EA, Kramer M, Steinwachs S, Regier DA (1985) Measuring need for mental health services in a general population. Med Care 23:1033–1043
Johnston A, Goldberg DP (1976) Psychiatric screening in general practice. A controlled trial. Lancet I:605–608
Barrett JE, Barrett JA, Oxman TE et al (1988) The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in a primary care practice. Arch Gen Psychiatry 45:1100–1106
Goldberg D, Bridges K (1987) Screening for psychiatric illness in general practice: the general practitioner versus the screening questionnaire. J R Coll Gen Pract 37:15–18
Skuse D, Williams P (1984) Screening for psychiatric disorder in general practice. Psychol Med 14:365–377
Cooper B, Fry J, Kalt GW (1969) A longitudinal study of psychiatric morbidity in a general practice population. Br J Prev Soc Med 23:210–217
Shepherd M, Cooper B, Brown AC, Kalton GW (1966) Psychiatric illness in general practice. Oxford University Press, London
Mann AH, Jenkins R, Belsey E (1981) The twelve-month outcome of patients with neurotic illness in general practice. Psychol Med 11:535–550
Kessler LG, Cleary PD, Burke JD (1985) Psychiatric disorders in primary care. Results of a follow-up study. Arch Gen Psychiatry 42:583–587
Goldberg DP, Blackwell P (1970) Psychiatric illness in general practice. A detailed study using a new method of case identification. Br Med J 2:439–443
Marks JN, Goldberg DP, Hillier VF (1979) Determinants of the ability of general practitioners to detect psychiatric illness. Psychol Med 9:337–353
Boardman AP (1987) The General Health Questionnaire and the detection of emotional disorder by general practitioners. A replicated study. Br J Psychiatry 151:373–381
Novack DA (1981) Physical aspects of illness. South Med J 74:1376–1381
Nettelbladt P, Hansson L, Borgquist L (1993) Mental health problems in occupational health care. A pilot study. J Occup Med 35:53–56
Marino S, Bellantuono C, Tansella M (1990) Psychiatric morbidity in general practice in Italy — a point prevalence survey in a defined geographical area. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 25:67–72
Verhaak P, Tijhuis M (1992) Psychosocial problems in primary care: some results from the Dutch national study of morbidity and interventions in general practice. Soc Sci Med 35:105–110
Larsen DL, Attkisson CC, Hargreaves WA, Nquyen TD (1979) Assessment of client/patient satisfaction: development of a general scale. Eval Program Plann 2:197–207
Hansson L (1989) The quality of outpatient psychiatric care. A survey of patient satisfaction in a sectorised care organisation. Scand J Caring Sci 3:71–81
Krakau I (1991) Satisfaction with health care in a Swedish primary care district. A ten year's perspective. Scand J Prim Health Care 9:59–64
Hansson L, Nettelbladt P, Borgquist L, Nordström G (1994) Screening for psychiatric illness in primary care. A cross sectional study in a Swedish health district. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol (in press)
Borgquist L, Hansson L, Nettelbladt P, Nordström G, Lindelöw G (1993) Perceived health and high-consumers of care. A study of mental health problems in a Swedish primary health care district. Psychol Med 23:763–770
Nettelbladt P, Hansson L, Stefansson C-G, Borgquist L, Nordström G (1993) Test characteristics of the Hopkins Symptom Check List (HSCL-25) in Sweden, using Present State Examination (PSE) as a caseness criterion. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 28:130–133
Derogatis LR, Lipman RS, Rickels K et al (1974) The Hopkins Symptom Check List. A self report symptom inventory. Behav Sci 19:1–15
Dencker SJ, Fasth BG (1986) Combination of psychotherapy and drugs in the treatment of neurosis. A controlled comparison of bromazepam and thioridazine. Acta Psychiatr Scand 74:569–575
Hansson L, Berglund M, Öhman R (1987) Individualized measures versus standardized rating scales in evaluation of inhospital psychiatric treatment. Acta Psychiatr Scand 75:275–282
Hansson L, Sjöstedt M, Nylander B, Bliding G (1992) Education of relatives of schizophrenics. A study of the effects on the living conditions of relatives. Nord J Psychiatry 46:269–275
Goldberg DP, Rickels K, Downing R et al (1978) A comparison of two psychiatric screening tests. Br J Psychiatry 129:61–67
Glass RM, Allan AT, Uhlenhuth EH et al (1978) Psychiatric screening in a medical clinic. An evaluation of a self-report inventory. Arch Gen Psychiatry 35:1189–1195
Goldberg DP (1972) The detection of psychiatric illness by questionnaire. Oxford University Press, London
Sörensen T (1987) Mental helse i Nordkyst (Mental health in Nordkyst). Bodö, Norway
Stefansson CG, Svensson C (1993) Identified and unidentified mental illness in primary health care — social characteristics medical measures and total care utilization during one year. Scand J Prim Health Care (in press)
Hunt SM, Wiklund I (1987) Cross cultural variation in the weighting of health statements: a comparison of English and Swedish valuations. Health Policy 8:227–235
Sjöberg L, Svensson E, Persson LO (1979) The measurement of mood. Scand J Psychol 20:1–18
International classification of diseases, 9th revision (ICD-9) (1986) Stockholm
Wing JK, Cooper JE, Sartorius N (1974) The description and classification of psychiatric symptoms: an instruction manual for the PSE and Catego system. Cambridge University Press, London
Siegel S (1956) Non-parametric statistics for the behavioural sciences. McGraw-Hill, New York
Statistical packages for the social sciences, SPSSPC+V3.1 (1988) Spss Inc, Chicago
Ormel J, van den Brink W, Koeter MWJ, Giel R, van der Meer K, van de Willige G, Wilmink FW (1990) Recognition, management and outcome of psychological disorders in primary care: a naturalistic follow-up study. Psychol Med 20:909–923
Hankin JR, Oktay JS (1979) Mental disorder and primary medical care. An analytical review of the literature. US Dept of Health, Education and Welfare publication (ADM) 78-661, series D, no 5. National Institute of Mental Health, Washington DC
Hansson L, Nettelbladt P, Borgquist L (1990) Patterns of care in patients utilizing both primary health care and psychiatric care in a Swedish health district. Scand J Prim Health Care 8:173–178
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hansson, L., Borgquist, L., Nettelbladt, P. et al. The course of psychiatric illness in primary care patients. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 29, 1–7 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00796442
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00796442