Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in Taiwan defined by the Chinese Diagnostic Interview Schedule.

The Taiwan Psychiatric Epidemiological Project, conducted from 1982 to 1986, used the multistage random sampling method with 5005, 3004 and 2995 subjects selected respectively from metropolitan Taipei (MT), 2 small towns (ST) and 6 rural villages (RV). The case identification tool was the Chinese modified Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS-CM). This study presents the lifetime and one-year prevalence of 27 and of 17 specific psychiatric disorders respectively. The lifetime prevalence of any disorder defined by the DIS-CM -- excluding tobacco dependence -- was 16.3%, 28.0% and 21.5% in the MT, ST and RV samples respectively. The differences in lifetime prevalence between the sexes and between the 3 sampling areas were significant for 15 and 8 disorders respectively. The ST sample seemed to have the most disorders, with the highest prevalence among 3 sampling areas. The mean ratio of one-year to lifetime prevalence was 0.67. The differences in prevalence rates between the 3 sampling areas and between the international studies are discussed from methodological, social and cultural points of view.