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Authors:

1. Yasmin A Altwaijri
2. Abdulhameed Al-Habeeb
3. Abdullah S Al-Subaie
4. Lisa Bilal
5. Majid Al-Desouki
6. Mona K Shahab
7. Sanaa Hyder
8. Nancy A Sampson
9. Andrew J King
10. Ronald C Kessler

International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research

10.1002/mpr.1831

Objectives: To estimate 12-month prevalence and severity of mental disorders in the Saudi National Mental Health Survey (SNMHS).

Methods: The SNMHS is a face-to-face community epidemiological survey in a nationally representative household sample of citizens aged 15 to 65 in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) (n = 4,004). The World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) was used to estimate 12-month prevalence of common DSM-IV mental disorders.

Results: Twelve-month prevalence of any DSM-IV/CIDI disorder is 20.2%. Most common are anxiety disorders (12.3%) followed by mood (6.8%), disruptive behavior (5.4%), eating (3.2%), and substance use (1.9%) disorders. The proportion of 12-month cases rated serious (39.0% of all cases) is high across virtually all disorders relative to the proportions found in CIDI surveys in other high-income countries. Younger people have significantly elevated odds of mood and disruptive behavior disorders and serious disorders. Women have significantly elevated odds of anxiety and mood disorders and serious disorders. Previously married people have signifi- cantly elevated odds of most disorder classes and serious disorders.

Conclusions: Both 12-month prevalence and severity of DSM-IV/CIDI disorders are high in Saudi Arabia compared to other high-income countries that carried out com- parable surveys.

Keywords

epidemiology, mental disorders, prevalence, Saudi National Mental Health Survey (SNMHS), WHO World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative, prevalence

Citation

Altwaijri, Y.A., Al-Habeeb, A., Al-Subaie, A.S., Bilal, L., Al-Desouki, M., Shahab, M.K., Hyder, S., Sampson, N.A., King, A.J., & Kessler, R.C. (2020). Twelve-month prevalence and severity of mental disorders in the Saudi National Mental Health Survey. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res., 29(1831), 1-15, doi: 10.1002/mpr.1831