Analysis of the care provided over a six-month period by the liaison psychiatry unit at a general hospital in Lima, Peru

INTRODUCTION

Consultation-liaison psychiatry is a branch of clinical psychiatry that enables psychiatrists to carry out a series of activities within a general hospital. The number of liaison psychiatry units around the world has increased significantly, and Peru is no exception. However, this development is heterogeneous and unknown, so recent study reports are required to reveal the characteristics and details of the clinical care services provided by these units.

AIM

To describe and report the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of patients evaluated in the Liaison Psychiatry Unit of the Guillermo Almenara Irigoyen National Hospital in Lima, Peru, and to analyse the symptomatic and syndromic nature of the identified conditions.

METHODS

Cross-sectional descriptive study. Referrals to the Liaison Psychiatry Unit of the Guillermo Almenara Irigoyen National Hospital between May and October 2019 were studied, and a factor analysis of the symptoms was conducted.

RESULTS

In a total of 400 referrals evaluated, the average age was 58 ± 17.09 years and 61.5% of the patients were women. The rate of psychiatric consultation was 2.73%. Internal medicine (13.9%) was the service that most frequently requested a psychiatric consultation. The disorder most frequently diagnosed was anxiety (44%), and the symptoms most frequently found were depression (45.3%), insomnia (44.5%), and anxiety (41.3%). The most used treatments were antidepressants (44.3%). The exploratory factor analysis of the symptoms showed three syndromic components: delirium, depression, and anxiety.

CONCLUSIONS

The typical patient of this sample is a woman in her late 50s, suffering from a non-psychiatric medical illness, and with anxiety disorders as the main diagnosis resulting from the psychiatric consultation.

Analysis of the Care Provided Over a Six-Month Period by the Liaison Psychiatry Unit at a General Hospital in Lima, Peru

INTRODUCTION

Consultation-liaison psychiatry is a branch of clinical psychiatry that enables psychiatrists to carry out a series of activities within a general hospital. The number of liaison psychiatry units around the world has increased significantly, and Peru is no exception. However, this development is heterogeneous and unknown, so recent study reports are required to reveal the characteristics and details of the clinical care services provided by these units.

AIM

To describe and report the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of patients evaluated in the Liaison Psychiatry Unit of the Guillermo Almenara Irigoyen National Hospital in Lima, Peru, and to analyse the symptomatic and syndromic nature of the identified conditions.

METHODS

Cross-sectional descriptive study. Referrals to the Liaison Psychiatry Unit of the Guillermo Almenara Irigoyen National Hospital between May and October 2019 were studied, and a factor analysis of the symptoms was conducted.

RESULTS

In a total of 400 referrals evaluated, the average age was 58±17.09 years and 61.5% of the patients were women. The rate of psychiatric consultation was 2.73%. Internal medicine (13.9%) was the service that most frequently requested a psychiatric consultation. The disorder most frequently diagnosed was anxiety (44%), and the symptoms most frequently found were depression (45.3%), insomnia (44.5%), and anxiety (41.3%). The most used treatments were antidepressants (44.3%). The exploratory factor analysis of the symptoms showed three syndromic components: delirium, depression, and anxiety.

CONCLUSIONS

The typical patient of this sample is a woman in her late 50s, suffering from a non-psychiatric medical illness, and with anxiety disorders as the main diagnosis resulting from the psychiatric consultation.

[Detecting and measuring functional and organic disease in general population: Development and validation of TOPYPS clinical scale]

OBJECTIVE

To develop and validate the TOPYPS scale, an instrument designed to: (i)detect with a high degree of suspicion the most frequent functional pathologies according to standard diagnostic criteria, and (ii)to assess the physical health in the general population quickly, comprehensive and reliable.

DESIGN

Validation of a scale.

LOCATION

Primary Care Centre, Barcelona.

PARTICIPANTS

The scale was administered to 67 randomly selected adults.

MEASUREMENTS

TOPYPS scale was administered to 67 adults randomly selected from a primary care setting in Barcelona, Spain. TOPYPS has six sections based on body systems, each one scored according to the degree of interference in daily activity, type of treatment received, and prognostic of the reported illnesses in each section. Test-retest reliability completions were on two separate occasions one week apart. Validity was then tested by comparing the results with the clinical examination conducted by two different specialists in general practice (gold standard).

RESULTS

Repeatability (test-retest) and inter-rater agreement for each of the six sections and for the total score were satisfactory. Validity was acceptable both for content and construct, according to their correlation with the gold standard.

CONCLUSIONS

TOPYPS displayed good psychometrical properties. It is a suitable tool to detect and measure functional and organic diseases in general population.