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High prevalence of mental disorders and comorbidity in the Geneva Gay Men’s Health Study

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Abstract

Background

Several large surveys have suggested high prevalence of psychiatric disorders among gay men and other men who have sex with men.

Methods

In 2002, a comprehensive health survey was conducted among 571 gay men in Geneva, Switzerland, using probability-based time-space sampling. The Composite International Diagnostic Interview Short-Form (CIDI-SF) was used to assess 12-month prevalence of major depression, specific phobia, social phobia, alcohol dependence, and drug dependence.

Results

Nearly half (43.7%, 95% CI=39.0–48.4) of the sample fulfilled the criteria for at least one of the five DSM-IV disorders: 19.2% had major depression, 21.9% had specific and/or social phobia, and 16.7% had an alcohol and/or drug dependence disorder in the past 12 months. Over one quarter of the cases were comorbid with another kind of disorder, and 35.7% of cases consulted a health care professional in the past 12 months for mental health. Like cases, screen-positives for mood and/or anxiety disorders (24.7%) also reported significantly greater disability and lower quality of life.

Conclusions

Nearly two-thirds of this community sample of gay men was affected by psychiatric morbidity with new evidence for comorbidity, subthreshold disorders, and low levels of awareness of psychiatric disorders and their treatment. This population needs to be a priority in psychiatric epidemiology and mental public health.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank project assistant Vincent Jobin and the many volunteers and experts in Geneva who have contributed to the overall project. Special acknowledgement goes to Ron Clarke at Health Canada for his participation in discussions on the overall project and Dr. Ron de Graaf at the Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction (or Trimbos Institute) for his valuable input on the subject of mental health. Dialogai is a non-profit organisation supported by a grant from the canton of Geneva. The data collection for the Geneva Gay Men’s Health Survey was financed by the Swiss National Research Foundation grant 3326-062448 and the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health. This publication and the analyses therein were financed by the Swiss National Research Foundation grant 3346C0-104189.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine, Hirschengraben 84, 8001, Zurich, Switzerland

    Jen Wang MPH & Vladeta Ajdacic-Gross PhD

  2. Swiss Tropical Institute, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland

    Jen Wang MPH & Mitchell G. Weiss MD, PhD

  3. Dialogai, Geneva, Switzerland

    Michael Häusermann LSW

  4. Research Unit for Social and Clinical Psychiatry, Psychiatric University Clinic, Zurich, Switzerland

    Vladeta Ajdacic-Gross PhD

  5. Institute of Education, University of London, London, UK

    Peter Aggleton PhD

Authors
  1. Jen Wang MPH
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  2. Michael Häusermann LSW
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  3. Vladeta Ajdacic-Gross PhD
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  4. Peter Aggleton PhD
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  5. Mitchell G. Weiss MD, PhD
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Correspondence to Jen Wang MPH.

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Wang, J., Häusermann, M., Ajdacic-Gross, V. et al. High prevalence of mental disorders and comorbidity in the Geneva Gay Men’s Health Study. Soc Psychiat Epidemiol 42, 414–420 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-007-0190-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-007-0190-3

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