Mahmoud A. El-Wasify¹, Osama A. El-Boraie¹, Mohammed H. El-Atrony¹,

Abdel-Hady G. Abdel-Fatah², Mohammad N. Sadek³, Dalal A. Amer³, Aref Khoweiled³

Departments of Psychiatry¹, Public Health and Community Medicine², Mansoura University;

Psychiatry³, Cairo University; Egypt

Background: Epidemiological studies of the prevalence of mental disorders in Egypt are rare and are needed for planning of health care delivery. Objective: to estimate the one year prevalence of common mental disorders in Dakahlia Governorate and its impact on disability and quality of life. Method: Using an Epidemiological sample frame, a random sample of 810 household adults (age 15-65 both sexes) in urban and rural areas were interviewed using the short Arabic form of the Present State Examination 10^th revision (PSE-10). The level of disability and quality of life were also measured. Results: 64% of the sample were males, 63% resided in rural areas. A one year prevalence of mood (4.8%), anxiety (4.3%) somatoform and dissociative (1.4%) and psychotic (0.6%) disorders was found. A further 6.3%of the sample had subclinical symptoms. Females were more likely to have mental disorders than males (OR = 1.8). The quality of life and disability scores were significantly different in cases than in non cases (p<0.001). Conclusion: A representative randomized sample from 27sites in Dakahlia shows a prevalence of 10.6% of common mental disorders with significant disability and effect on the QOL. [Egypt J Neurol Psychiat Neurosurg.  2011; 48(4): 375-381]

Key Words: Epidemiological, one year prevalence, mental disorder, Egypt, PSE-10, disability, QOL.