Sociodemographic Characteristics of Adult Saudi Patients with Mood Disorder Subtypes

BACKGROUND: The demographic profile and clinical manifestations of mood disorder subtypes can differ across regions; however, there is a lack of studies from Saudi Arabia on the sociodemographic characteristics of adult Saudi patients with mood disorder subtypes. OBJECTIVE: The study aims to explore the sociodemographic profile of adult Saudi patients with different types of mood disorders. METHODS: This retrospective study analyzed the data of all adult Saudi patients (aged ≥18 years) who were diagnosed with a mood disorder and attended the psychiatric outpatient clinic at King Fahd Hospital of the University (KFHU), Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, between 1982 and 2011. Patients with psychiatric comorbidity were not included in the analyses. Major depressive disorder (depression), bipolar disorder, adjustment disorder and dysthymia were the four subtypes of mood disorder identified in the sample, and all eligible patients were categorized accordingly. RESULTS: A total of 340 patients were included in this study. Slightly less than half (42.4%) the study population were aged 18–30 years. Further, 58% of the patients were females, 67.6% were married and 58.8% were unemployed. Depression was the most common mood disorder (~73%). Of the patients with bipolar disorder (n = 38), more than half were male and aged 18–30 years (~58% each); these percentages were higher than that observed in other subtypes. CONCLUSION: This study found that among patients at KFHU, depression is the most common mood disorder and that most patients are females. In contrast, bipolar disorder is more common among males. Further in-depth studies in a larger sample size may provide better patient profiling, which can be used for developing effective screening programs.