Objectives: To establish possible differences in gender, age and urgency between patients with anxiety disorders, stress related disorders and somatoform disorders and patients with other psychiatric diagnoses.
Subjects and methods: 2760 consecutive admissions in the Psychiatric Emergency Out-patient Clinic (PEOC) over the period 2004-2005 were included. Data about diagnosis (ICD-10), gender, age and urgency were gathered from medical documentation. Data were compared between two groups of patients according to diagnosis; the first group encompassed anxiety disorders, stress related disorders and somatoform disorders (F 40-F 48) and the second group gathered all other psychiatric diagnoses (others).
Results: One third (36%) of patients examined in PEOC suffered for anxiety disorders, stress related disorders and somatoform disorders. The most common diagnoses within this group were stress related disorders (F 43: 41.7%). Gender ratio was in favour of women in both groups. Significantly more women suffered for anxiety, stress-related and somatoform disorders (63.4% vs. 56.9%, p<0.005). Patients with anxiety, stress-related and somatoform disorders were significantly younger compared with others (40.4 years vs. 45.2 years, p<0.001), and they were significantly less urgent cases compared with others (46.7% vs. 65.3.3%, p<0.001).
Conclusion: Anxiety disorders, stress related disorders and somatoform disorders are common in PEOC. The higher percentage of women among these patients is in accordance with data from the literature; lower age might be a consequence of earlier onset of the above mentioned disorders.