Socio-demographic and Clinical Profile of Children and Adolescents Attending the Psychiatry Outpatient Service of a Tertiary Level Hospital in Eastern Nepal

Aims: This study aims to find out the socio-demographic and clinical profile of children and adolescents attending psychiatry outpatient service of a tertiary-level hospital in Nepal.

Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in the psychiatry outpatient department from Sep 2017 to Sep 2018.

Methodology: All children and adolescents, aged 6 years to 18 years, visiting the psychiatry outpatient department registered as new cases were included in the study. Epidemiological profiles and clinical characteristics (psychiatric diagnosis, age, sex, ethnicity, occupation, education geographical areas, family characteristics) were noted using a semi-structured questionnaire. Psychiatric diagnosis was made based on ICD-11 criteria. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data.

Results: The mean age of the patients was 14.07 years ± 3.43 (mean ± SD). Psychiatric disorders were most common in children and adolescents of 16-19 years of age group followed by the 11-15 years of age group. Majorities of the patients were male (52.1%), and Hindu (87.2%). More than 85% of the patients had received some level of education. Most resided in rural areas (43.2%) and nuclear families (54.7%). The most common psychiatric diagnosis was depressive disorder (21.6%) followed by Dissociative disorder (16.15%.), and Panic disorder (10.16%). Thirteen percent of the patients presented with a history of intentional self-harm, 19.5% had a positive family history of mental illness, and 18% had emotional difficulties with their parents. There was a history of alcohol use in the family in 17.2% and family conflicts in 14.1% of cases.

Conclusion: Depression is the most common psychiatric disorder in the pediatric age group. Adolescents of the elder age group and male gender constitute the major proportion of patients with psychiatric morbidity. Positive family history of mental illness and emotional difficulties with the parents were the most commonly seen family characteristics.