[Descriptive study of mental disorders in ethnic minorities residing in an urban area of Barcelona].

AIM: To observe the differences between ethnic groups and the autochthonous population in the frequency of mental disorders. To study epidemiological data and the accuracy of recording of such data.

DESIGN

Descriptive study. Setting. Raval Sud Basic Health Care Area. Drassanes Primary Health Care Center, Barcelona, Spain.

PATIENTS: A random sample of 112 immigrant patients belonging to ethnic minorities, seen between January 1995 and December 1997, matched for age and sex with autochthonous patients. Interventions. We studied variables related with mental disorders in immigrants. Variables included age, country of origin, reason for immigrating, employment status, marital status, other persons in household, educational level, knowledge of Spanish and toxic habits. We recorded the following impressions of diagnosis: anxiety, depression, somatization, psychosis, personality disorder, number of visits for each diagnosis, treatment, and overall number of visits between January 1995 and December 1997. Statistical studies consisted of descriptive analysis and chi-squared tests.

MEASURES AND

RESULTS

Mean age was 39 14 years, 52.7% of the immigrant patients were men, 36.6% (95% CI, 27.6-45.5%) were from the Maghreb region, and 23.2% (95% CI, 15.4-31.0%) were Hindustani. 43% (95% CI, 33.6-52.0%) understood Spanish. Smoking was more frequent among autochthonous patients (59.8%; 95% CI, 50.7-68.9%) than in immigrant patients (26.8%; 95% CI, 18.5-34.9%; p < 0.001), as was alcohol abuse (24.1%; 95% CI, 16.1-32.0%, versus 5.4%; 95% CI, 1.1-9.5%; p < 0.001). Depression tended to be more frequent in patients belonging to ethnic groups (15.2%; 95% CI, 8.5-21.8%) than in autochthonous patients (13.4%; 95% CI, 7.0-19.7%; p = ns), as did somatization disorder (10.7%; 95% CI, 4.9-167.4%, versus 6.3%; 95% CI, 1.7-10.7%, p = ns), but was undertreated (19.8%; 95% CI, 2.4-27.2%, versus 32.1%; 95% CI, 23.4-40.7%; p = ns). The total number of visits during the study period was higher in autochthonous patients (1138 versus 1017), as was the number of visits for mental disorders (17.9%; 95% CI, 15.7-20.1%, versus 13%; 95% CI, 1.9-15.0%; p = ns).

CONCLUSIONS

There were no differences in the percentages of mental disorder