Prevalence of Common Mental Disorders among Patients Visiting A Tertiary Hospital: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

BackgroundMental disorder has emerged as pressing global health concern. It is necessary to find the way forward to deal with it in hospital setting. This study helps to find common mental disorders among patients visiting out-patient services. The objectives of this study were to measure prevalence of common mental disorders among adults 18 and above in patient visiting psychiatry out-patients service and to assess the comorbid physical illness.MethodsAn analytic cross-sectional quantitative study was carried out in Department of Psychiatry, after approval from Institute Research Committee from June 30th to November 30th 2025. ICD-11 was used to diagnose mental disorders. A total of 315 patients of 18 years and above were enrolled after informed written consent. Exclusion criteria were patients aged less than 18 years, delirious states, severe dementia and aggressive patient requiring emergency care. Physical illness was recorded as diagnosed by respective departments.ResultsA total of 315 patients were enrolled in this study. Among them 131 (41.5%) had anxiety spectrum disorder, depressive disorder was found among 70 (22.2%), followed by bodily distress disorder and bipolar disorder 33 (10.5%) and 32 (10.2%) respectively. Comorbid physical illness was hypertension 45 (14.3%), hypothyroidism 17 (5.8%), and Type-2 diabetes mellitus 12 (3.8%). Female was significant with mental disorder with p value <0.001.ConclusionsThe most common mental disorder among adults was found to be anxiety disorder followed by depressive disorder and most common comorbid physical illness was hypertension.