Estimating prevalence and burden of major disorders of the brain in Nepal: cultural, geographic, logistic and philosophical issues of methodology

BACKGROUND: Headache, anxiety and depression are major disorders of the brain in terms of their prevalence and the burdens and costs they impose on society. Nationwide population-based studies of these disorders are necessary to inform health policy but, in research-naïve and resource-poor countries such as Nepal, a host of methodological problems are encountered: cultural, geographic, logistic and philosophical. METHODS: Expert consensus was sought among researchers from different professional and cultural backgrounds in planning and conceptualizing an epidemiological study and adapting established methods to the special situation and circumstances of Nepal. RESULTS: The methodological problems were sorted into different themes: study design; climate; geography, access and transport; sociocultural issues; safety of interviewers. Each of these was dealt with separately, and their inter-relationships explored, in finding solutions that were sometimes pragmatic. A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study, with teams of interviewers visiting households across the three physiographic divisions (with extremes in altitude) in each of the five development regions of the country, would enable national sampling with sociocultural representativeness. However, the study instruments and interviews would be in Nepali only. Transport and access challenges were considerable, and their solutions combined travel by air, bus, river and foot, with allowances for rain-damaged roads, collapsed bridges and cancelled scheduled flights. The monsoon would render many routes impassable, and therefore set an absolute time limitation. Engaging participants willingly in the enquiry would be the key to success, and several tactics would be employed to enhance the success of this, most importantly enlisting the support of local community volunteers in each study site. CONCLUSION: Anticipating problems in advance of investing substantial resources in a large nationwide epidemiological study in Nepal was a sensible precaution. The difficulties could be resolved or circumvented without expected compromise in scientific quality. Expert consensus was an effective means of achieving this outcome

Structured headache services as the solution to the ill-health burden of headache: 1. Rationale and description

In countries where headache services exist at all, their focus is usually on specialist (tertiary) care. This is clinically and economically inappropriate: most headache disorders can effectively and more efficiently (and at lower cost) be treated in educationally supported primary care. At the same time, compartmentalizing divisions between primary, secondary and tertiary care in many health-care systems create multiple inefficiencies, confronting patients attempting to navigate these levels (the “patient journey”) with perplexing obstacles. High demand for headache care, estimated here in a needs-assessment exercise, is the biggest of the challenges to reform. It is also the principal reason why reform is necessary. The structured headache services model presented here by experts from all world regions on behalf of the Global Campaign against Headache is the suggested health-care solution to headache. It develops and refines previous proposals, responding to the challenge of high demand by basing headache services in primary care, with two supporting arguments. First, only primary care can deliver headache services equitably to the large numbers of people needing it. Second, with educational supports, they can do so effectively to most of these people. The model calls for vertical integration between care levels (primary, secondary and tertiary), and protection of the more advanced levels for the minority of patients who need them. At the same time, it is amenable to horizontal integration with other care services. It is adaptable according to the broader national or regional health services in which headache services should be embedded. It is, according to evidence and argument presented, an efficient and cost-effective model, but these are claims to be tested in formal economic analyses

Birth Order and Psychopathology

Context: Ordinal position the child holds within the sibling ranking of a family is related to intellectual functioning, personality, behavior, and development of psychopathology. Aim: To study the association between birth order and development of psychopathology in patients attending psychiatry services in a teaching hospital. Settings and Design: Hospital-based cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods: Retrospective file review of three groups of patients was carried out. Patient-related variables like age of onset, birth order, family type, and family history of mental illness were compared with psychiatry diagnosis (ICD-10) generated. Statistical Analysis: SPSS 13; descriptive statistics and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used. Results: Mean age of onset of mental illness among the adult general psychiatry patients (group I, n = 527) was found to be 33.01 ± 15.073, while it was 11.68 ± 4.764 among the child cases (group II, n = 47) and 26.74 ± 7.529 among substance abuse cases (group III, n = 110). Among group I patients, commonest diagnosis was depression followed by anxiety and somatoform disorders irrespective of birth order. Dissociative disorders were most prevalent in the first born child (36.7%) among group II patients. Among group III patients, alcohol dependence was maximum diagnosis in all birth orders. Conclusions: Depression and alcohol dependence was the commonest diagnosis in adult group irrespective of birth order

Psychiatric Morbidity Patterns in Referred Inpatients of Other Specialties

Introduction: Consultation-liaison psychiatry is an upcoming field dealing with interdepartmental collaboration heading into multidisciplinary and holistic care. In general hospital setting, psychiatrists need to be involved in evaluation of patients referred from other specialties. This study analyzed the psychiatric morbidity among the inpatients referred to Psychiatry Department from different wards in a Tertiary care University Teaching Hospital. Methods: Total 385 subjects were referred to the Department of Psychiatry from different wards during a period of one year. Each of them underwent a detailed psychiatric evaluation by a consultant psychiatrist once they were medically stable. Psychiatric diagnosis was considered as per International Classification of Disease-10 criteria. Results: The mean age of the subjects evaluated was 37.26 (±1.86); most of them were females 216 (56.4%), married 287 (74.5%), and homemaker 159 (41.3%). Maximum 271 (70.4%) referral was from Medical ward, and most of them 292 (75.8%) were admitted in general bed. The most common medical diagnosis was self-poisoning 115 (30.6%) followed by alcoholic liver disease 49 (12.7%); while the commonest 123 (31.9%) psychiatric diagnosis was depression (including Dysthymia and Adjustment disorder). Depression remained the commonest diagnosis among those referred from medical ward 131 (34.7%); while anxiety was mostly found in the emergency referral 94 (24.5%). Significant Correlation (P <0.05) was seen between the source of referral and Psychiatric diagnosis. Conclusions: Psychiatric consultation was sought mostly by medical ward that had maximum number of patients presenting with self-poisoning. The commonest diagnosis seen in the referred in-patients was depression and anxiety disorder.  Keywords: consultation-liaison psychiatry; in-patient referral; psychiatric morbidity

Psychiatric Morbidity Patterns in Referred Inpatients of Other Specialties

Introduction: Consultation-liaison psychiatry is an upcoming field dealing with interdepartmental collaboration heading into multidisciplinary and holistic care. In general hospital setting, psychiatrists need to be involved in evaluation of patients referred from other specialties. This study analyzed the psychiatric morbidity among the inpatients referred to Psychiatry Department from different wards in a Tertiary care University Teaching Hospital. &#13; Methods: Total 385 subjects were referred to the Department of Psychiatry from different wards during a period of one year. Each of them underwent a detailed psychiatric evaluation by a consultant psychiatrist once they were medically stable. Psychiatric diagnosis was considered as per International Classification of Disease-10 criteria. &#13; Results: The mean age of the subjects evaluated was 37.26 (±1.86); most of them were females 216 (56.4%), married 287 (74.5%), and homemaker 159 (41.3%). Maximum 271 (70.4%) referral was from Medical ward, and most of them 292 (75.8%) were admitted in general bed. The most common medical diagnosis was self-poisoning 115 (30.6%) followed by alcoholic liver disease 49 (12.7%); while the commonest 123 (31.9%) psychiatric diagnosis was depression (including Dysthymia and Adjustment disorder). Depression remained the commonest diagnosis among those referred from medical ward 131 (34.7%); while anxiety was mostly found in the emergency referral 94 (24.5%). Significant Correlation (P &lt;0.05) was seen between the source of referral and Psychiatric diagnosis. &#13; Conclusions: Psychiatric consultation was sought mostly by medical ward that had maximum number of patients presenting with self-poisoning. The commonest diagnosis seen in the referred in-patients was depression and anxiety disorder. &#13; Keywords: consultation-liaison psychiatry; in-patient referral; psychiatric morbidity

Attitude towards Mental illness and Psychiatry among the Medical students and Interns in a University Medical College

Introduction: Medical students tend to have a neutral or negative attitude to Psychiatry as a discipline. This study was initiated to explore the attitude towards Mental illness and Psychiatry among the Medical students and Interns in Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences (KUSMS). Method: A cross-sectional Questionnaire based study was conducted among the Medical students and Interns at Dhulikhel Hospital (Kathmandu University Hospital). Two self-rating scales; Attitudes towards psychiatry (ATP-30) and Attitudes to mental illness (AMI) were used to assess attitudes towards mental illness and Psychiatry among the total 159 subjects. Descriptive statistics and independent sample t-test applied using SPSS-16 for analysis. Results: Among the total 159 subjects, 56.6% were males and 27.7% were Interns. Comparison of means of each item in ATP-30 and AMI was done between Males and Females, Medical students and Interns, First semester and Ninth semester students. Most of the subjects showed neutral attitude towards all the scoring items; though there were a few significant differences in mean scores of some items in group wise comparison. Conclusions: Overall attitudes towards Mental illness and Psychiatry among the Medical students and Interns in our Medical School were positive or neutral. A further study with medical students from different institutions is needed to get a detail nationwide picture. Key words: Attitude, Interns, Medical Students, Mental illness, Psychiatry

Attitude towards Mental illness and Psychiatry among the Medical students and Interns in a University Medical College

Introduction: Medical students tend to have a neutral or negative attitude to Psychiatry as a discipline. This study was initiated to explore the attitude towards Mental illness and Psychiatry among the Medical students and Interns in Kathmandu University School of Medical Sciences (KUSMS). Method: A cross-sectional Questionnaire based study was conducted among the Medical students and Interns at Dhulikhel Hospital (Kathmandu University Hospital). Two self-rating scales; Attitudes towards psychiatry (ATP-30) and Attitudes to mental illness (AMI) were used to assess attitudes towards mental illness and Psychiatry among the total 159 subjects. Descriptive statistics and independent sample t-test applied using SPSS-16 for analysis. Results: Among the total 159 subjects, 56.6% were males and 27.7% were Interns. Comparison of means of each item in ATP-30 and AMI was done between Males and Females, Medical students and Interns, First semester and Ninth semester students. Most of the subjects showed neutral attitude towards all the scoring items; though there were a few significant differences in mean scores of some items in group wise comparison.                                                              Conclusions: Overall attitudes towards Mental illness and Psychiatry among the Medical students and Interns in our Medical School were positive or neutral. A further study with medical students from different institutions is needed to get a detail nationwide picture.                                   Key words: Attitude, Interns, Medical Students, Mental illness, Psychiatry.  

Comorbidities of psychiatric and headache disorders in Nepal: implications from a nationwide population-based study

Background Headache disorders, anxiety and depression – the major disorders of the brain – are highly comorbid in the western world. Whether this is so in South Asia has not been investigated, but the question is of public-health importance to countries in the region. We aimed to investigate associations, and their direction(s), between headache disorders (migraine, tension-type headache [TTH] and headache on ≥15 days/month) and psychiatric manifestations (anxiety, depression and neuroticism), and how these might affect quality of life (QoL). Methods In a nationwide, cross-sectional survey of the adult Nepalese population (N = 2100), trained interviewers applied: 1) a culturally-adapted version of the Headache-Attributed Restriction, Disability, Social Handicap and Impaired Participation (HARDSHIP) questionnaire to diagnose headache disorders; 2) a validated Nepali version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to detect anxiety (HADS-A), depression (HADS-D) and comorbid anxiety and depression (HADS-cAD); 3) a validated Nepali version of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised Short Form-Neuroticism (EPQRS-N); and 4) the World Health Organization Quality of Life 8-question scale (WHOQOL-8). Associations with headache types were analysed using logistic regression for psychiatric caseness and linear regression for neuroticism. Adjustments were made for age, gender, household consumption, habitat, altitude and use of alcohol and marijuana. Results HADS-A was associated with any headache (p = 0.024), most strongly headache on ≥15 days/month (AOR = 3.2) followed by migraine (AOR = 1.7). HADS-cAD was also associated with any headache (p = 0.050, more strongly among females than males [p = 0.047]) and again most strongly with headache on ≥15 days/month (AOR = 2.7), then migraine (AOR = 2.3). Likewise, neuroticism was associated with any headache (p < 0.001), most strongly with headache on ≥15 days/month (B = 1.6), followed by migraine (B = 1.3). No associations were found between HADS-D and any headache type, or between TTH and any psychiatric manifestation. Psychiatric caseness of any sort, when comorbid with migraine or TTH, aggravated the negative impact on QoL (p < 0.001). Conclusion Headache disorders are highly comorbid with anxiety and show associations with neuroticism in Nepal, with negative consequences for QoL. These findings call for reciprocal awareness, and a holistic coordinated approach to management and in the health service. Care for common headache and common psychiatric disorders should be integrated in primary care