Major mental disorders in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. III. Neurotic and somatoform disorders

Abstract

This report presents estimates of the lifetime and point (one-month) prevalence of phobic anxiety, dissociative, other anxiety and somatoform disorders based on a survey conducted in Addis Ababa between September and December of 1994. An Amharic version of the CIDI was used to collect data from a random community sample of 1420 individuals aged 15 and above. Phobic anxiety disorders were found to be the most common of all anxiety disorders, with lifetime prevalence of 4.8%). The lifetime prevalence for dissociative disorders was 0.8% and for other anxiety disorders it was 2.7%. The prevalence of somatoform disorders was 3.1%. The lifetime prevalence for all the above neurotic and somatoform disorders was 10.8%. Point prevalence estimates (percent) for the disorders were as follows: phobic anxiety disorders, 4.4; other anxiety disorders, 1.2; dissociative disorders, 0.4; and somatoform disorders, 2.5. After adjusting for several potential confounders, women had over a two-fold risk of having neurotic and somatoform disorders compared to men, odds ratio (OR), 95% confidence interval (CT)=2.38 (1.78, 3.12). Age was also inversely associated with the disorders. Those aged 60 and above had a 60% lower risk compared to those aged 15–24 years, OR (95% CI): 0.41 (0.20, 0.81). The 25% decreased risk for the employed, compared to the unemployed, was also not statistically significant. Education, marital status, and ethnicity were not significantly associated with neurotic and somatoform disorders.