A 1-year disease profile of psychiatric patients visiting the outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital

Introduction: Mental disorders constitute a higher burden on low- and middle-income countries like Bangladesh. Mental disease is poorly recorded, and data are not easily available in countries like Bangladesh. Hence, the aim of the present study was to observe the pattern of mental diseases found in a tertiary care center during 1-year survey. Methods: One-year patient data were explored from January 2015 to December 2015 and were extracted manually manually from the register book. All diagnosis were collected, and data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel. Results: Among the 1474 patients, most were in the age group of 11–20 years (388 [26.3%]) and 21–30 years (437 [29.6%]), next age group was 31–40 years (243 [16.5%]). One-hundred and twenty (8.1%) and 33 (2.2%) patients were found in two extremes of age 61 years, respectively. Males were 736 (49.9%) and females were 738 (50.1%). Male:female ratio was 1:1. Schizophrenia (360, 24.4%) was the most common psychiatric disease found which was next to major depressive disorder (187, 12.7%). Bipolar mania was found in 175 (11.9%) cases, and bipolar depression was found in 19 (1.3%) cases. Some other diseases such as generalized anxiety disorder was found in 57 (3.9%), obsessive-compulsive disorder in 35 (2.4%), phobic anxiety in 12 (0.8%), and panic disorder in 76 (5.2%) cases. Conclusion: In Bangladesh, burdens of mental disorders are high but largely unrecognized and underresearched area. To improve the mental health services in Bangladesh, further well-designed epidemiological and clinical research is required.