Psychiatric Disorders in Adolescents Attending Psychiatry Outpatient Department in a Tertiary Care Hospital: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

INTRODUCTION: Adolescence is the time when most mental illness begins most of the time these problems are overlooked leading to increased morbidity and mortality. The study is undertaken to find out the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in adolescents attending psychiatry outpatient department in a tertiary hospital. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was done from 1(st) December 2019 to 29(th) November 2020 at a tertiary care centre of Kathmandu. Ethical approval (Ref No.: 012-076/077) was taken from the Institution Review Committee. A semi-structured proforma was used for the socio-demographic profile of patients and International Classification of Diseases-10 was used to make the diagnosis. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 16. RESULTS: A total of 174 adolescents were included in the study. Out of the total cases 141 (81.03%) (75.1-86.8 at 95% Confidence Interval) were diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, among them 73 (51.77%) were males and 68 (48.23%) were females. The common diagnoses were anxiety disorders 63 (36.20%), mood disorders 34 (19.54%), psychotic disorders 26 (14.94%), substance use disorders 8 (4.59%), non-organic sleep disorders 5 (2.87%), behavioral and emotional disorders 3 (1.72%) and mental retardation 2 (1.149%). CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence of psychiatric illnesses is high in the adolescent population compared to the similar studies.