Prevalence of mental disorders in Punjab: Findings from National Mental Health Survey

BACKGROUND: Knowledge of the prevalence of mental disorders is essential for setting up services and allocation of resources. Existing studies suffer from methodological problems which limit their utility and generalizability. There was a long felt need to conduct a scientifically robust study in different regions of India to have national prevalence rates. AIMS: This study aims to estimate the prevalence of mental disorders in a representative population of Punjab as a part of the National Mental Health Survey. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Community-based survey carried out in rural and urban areas of Punjab using multistage, stratified, random cluster sampling technique and random selection was based on Probability Proportion to Size. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The survey was conducted in 60 clusters of 4 districts (Faridkot, Ludhiana, Moga, and Patiala) of Punjab. Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview adult version 6.0 for mental morbidity, case definition for generalized tonic–clonic seizure, an expansion of the Fagerström Nicotine Dependence Scale for tobacco use and screener for intellectual disability were used. Appropriate statistical methods were applied. RESULTS: A total of 2895 respondents aged >18 years from 719 households were interviewed. The prevalence of lifetime and current mental morbidity was 17.94% and 13.42%, respectively. Higher prevalence of mental morbidity was found among persons aged >60 years and those belonging to lower income group and rural population. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of mental morbidity is high in the population. The findings give a clear picture of magnitude of the problem and will help policy planners to tackle the situation which looks grave and warrants immediate intervention.