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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| The pattern of psychiatric disorders among the aged in a selected community in Nigeria | | Author(s) | Richard Uwakwe |
| Journal title | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol l5, no 4, April 2000 |
| Pages | pp 355-362 |
| Keywords | Mental disorder ; Cross sectional surveys ; Nigeria. |
| Annotation | In Nigeria, there are few residential homes, non-existent welfare or social services, and inadequate mental health services for older people. Prevalence studies of mental disorders in old age indicate that most older people with psychiatric disorders live at home, and this study sets out to define the common ones. A house-to-house survey of a rural community was conducted to identify those aged 60 and over, who were interviewed with the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-24) and the Geriatric Mental State Schedule (GMS). Psychiatric syndromal diagnoses were made with the Clinical and Research ICD-10 manuals. The overall rate of major mental disorders was 23.1%, with depression constituting 79% of all diagnoses. Specific dementia disorders wer not found in any of the 164 subjects, but 20.7% complained of forgetfulness. Use of tobacco (snuff), (local) alcohol, and other substances were common. No subject with any definable identified disorder was receiving any medical attention. The same range of disorders is revealed as in studies carried out elsewhere, indicated a need for adequate planning to accommodate the social security and mental health needs of older Nigerians. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-000823207 A |
| Classmark | E: 3KB: 7MT |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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