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. 2020 Sep;29(3):e1831.
doi: 10.1002/mpr.1831. Epub 2020 Aug 15.

Twelve-month prevalence and severity of mental disorders in the Saudi National Mental Health Survey

Yasmin A Altwaijri  1   2   3 , Abdulhameed Al-Habeeb  4 , Abdullah S Al-Subaie  1   5 , Lisa Bilal  1   2   3 , Majid Al-Desouki  6 , Mona K Shahab  2   7   8 , Sanaa Hyder  1   2   3 , Nancy A Sampson  9 , Andrew J King  9 , Ronald C Kessler  9
Affiliations

Twelve-month prevalence and severity of mental disorders in the Saudi National Mental Health Survey

Yasmin A Altwaijri et al. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

Objectives: To estimate 12-month prevalence and severity of mental disorders in the Saudi National Mental Health Survey (SNMHS).

Methods: The SNMHS is a face-to-face community epidemiological survey in a nationally representative household sample of citizens aged 15 to 65 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) (n = 4,004). The World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) was used to estimate 12-month prevalence of common DSM-IV mental disorders.

Results: Twelve-month prevalence of any DSM-IV/CIDI disorder is 20.2%. Most common are anxiety disorders (12.3%) followed by mood (6.8%), disruptive behavior (5.4%), eating (3.2%), and substance use (1.9%) disorders. The proportion of 12-month cases rated serious (39.0% of all cases) is high across virtually all disorders relative to the proportions found in CIDI surveys in other high-income countries. Younger people have significantly elevated odds of mood and disruptive behavior disorders and serious disorders. Women have significantly elevated odds of anxiety and mood disorders and serious disorders. Previously married people have significantly elevated odds of most disorder classes and serious disorders.

Conclusions: Both 12-month prevalence and severity of DSM-IV/CIDI disorders are high in Saudi Arabia compared to other high-income countries that carried out comparable surveys.

Keywords: Saudi National Mental Health Survey (SNMHS); WHO World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative; epidemiology; mental disorders; prevalence.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no potential conflict of interest.

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