Psychotic symptoms are associated with physical health problems independently of a mental disorder diagnosis: results from the WHO World Health Survey

Carmen Moreno, Roberto Nuevo, Somnath Chatterji, Emese Verdes, Celso Arango, José Luis Ayuso-Mateos

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This study explored whether physical health problems are related to psychotic symptoms independently of a mental disorder diagnosis. A total of 224,254 subjects recruited for the World Health Organization World Health Survey were subdivided into those with both a lifetime diagnosis of psychosis and at least one psychotic symptom in the 12 months prior to the evaluation, those with at least one psychotic symptom in the past 12 months but no lifetime diagnosis of psychosis, and those without psychotic symptoms in the past 12 months and without a lifetime diagnosis of psychosis. The three groups were compared for the presence of medical conditions, health problems, and access to health care. Medical conditions and health problems (angina, asthma, arthritis, tuberculosis, vision or hearing problems, mouth/teeth problems, alcohol consumption, smoking, and accidents), medication consumption, and hospital admissions (but not regular health care visits) were more frequent in individuals with psychotic symptoms but no psychosis diagnosis, compared to those with no symptoms and no diagnosis. The number of medical conditions increased with the number of psychotic symptoms. Given the sample analyzed, this trend seems to be independent from the socio-economic development of the country or the specific health care system.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)251-257
Number of pages7
JournalWorld psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA)
Volume12
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Oct 2013

Keywords

  • psychotic symptoms
  • physical health
  • medical conditions
  • access to health care
  • multinational study

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