Prevalence of mental disorders among prisoners in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the prison population in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. METHODS: Through stratified random sampling, 1.192 men and 617 women prisoners were evaluated for the presence of psychiatric disorders by the Composite International Diagnostic Interview, 2.1 version, according to definitions and criteria of International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10). The prevalence estimates of mental disorders and their respective 95% confidence intervals were calculated and adjusted for sample design through complex sample analysis. RESULTS: Lifetime and 12-month prevalence rates differed between genders. Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of any mental disorder was, respectively, 68.9% and 39.2% among women, and 56.1% and 22.1% among men. Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of anxious-phobic disorders was, respectively, 50% and 27.7% among women and 35.3% and 13.6% among men, of affective disorders was 40% and 21% among women and 20.8% and 9.9% among men, and of drug-related disorders was 25.2% and 1.6% among women and 26.5% and 1.3% among men. For severe mental disorders (psychotic, bipolar disorders, and severe depression), the lifetime and 12-month prevalence rates were, respectively, 25.8% and 14.7% among women, and 12.3% and 6.3% among men. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first large-scale epidemiological study performed with the prison population in Brazil, revealed high rates of psychiatric disorders among men and women. Many similarities, as well as some differences, were found between our results and those of studies conducted in other countries. The differences observed are more likely due to the peculiarities of the prison systems in each country than to the diagnostic criteria adopted in the studies. This fact reinforces the importance of conducting such studies as part of planning and development of appropriate policies for the particular mental health needs of specific prison populations.

Prison is not the right place for people with mental disorders: the Brazilian case.

The large number of individuals with severe mental disorders in prisons worldwide has alarming implications, which leads to the question of the appropriateness of the prison system for people with this type of morbidity. This article discusses these implications, the problems in therapeutic approaches and the legal aspects in the Brazilian context.

Escalas de rastreamento de psicopatologia / Screening scales of psychopathology

A capacidade de identificacao de casos psiquiatricos das escalas de rastreamento e examinada a partir de dados da literatura e de dados do Estudo Multicentrico de Morbidade Psiquiatrica do Adulto (Almeida-Filho et al., 1997), realizado em tres cidades brasileiras. Estas escalas apresentam desempenho modesto em amostras populacionais com valores da area da curva ROC inferiores a 0,90. E possivel, entretanto, extrair componentes, por meio da tecnica de componentes principais, que reunem questoes semelhantes aos sintomas de quadros clinicos descritos na clinica psiquiatrica, mas que de fato nao se correspondem. Os autores discutem essa contradicao e concluem que os componentes extraidos na comunidade provavelmente sao manifestacoes psicopatologicas nao especificas, tais como: estresse psicologico, desconforto fisiologico, transtorno cognitivo e desvios de comportamento

Envelhecimento populacional: panorama demografico

O autor examinou neste artigo a tendencia de envelhecimento da populacao idosa nos paises desenvolvidos e subdesenvolvidos, com enfase na situacao da America Latina e do Brasil. As peculiaridades demograficas, tais como: distribuicao por sexo, estado civil, distribuicao urbano-rural, migracoes, imigracoes foram avaliadas.