Common Mental Disorders: Prevalence and Risk Factors among Adolescents in a Southern Brazilian city

by TAVARES PINHEIRO, KAREN AMARAL

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence and determinants of common mental disorders(CMD) among adolescents in a southern Brazilian city.Methods: A cross-sectional study, using a multiple stage sampling, was conducted fromDecember 2001 to June 2002. A sample of adolescents aged between 15 and 18 yearsold, who live in the urban area of Pelotas, a southern Brazilian city, was studied. Allmale adolescents who obtained scores equal or higher to 5 and female adolescents whoscored equal to 6 or more in the twenty questions Self-Report Questionnaire (SRQ)were considered as having CMD. The multivarieted analysis with Poisson regressionwas performed taking into consideration the hierarchic pattern of variables associated toCMD.Results: 960 adolescents were interviewed. The CMD prevalence was 28,8%. It wasn?tverified an association between CMD and age. Adolescents aged 17 years old presenteda prevalence 1,37 (95% CI 1,06 ? 1,78) times higher than those 15 years old. Maternalschooling showed that mothers between 5 and 8 years of education had 1,42 (95% CI1,09 ? 1,85) more prevalence than mothers with more than 8 years of schooling.Adolescents who smoked 16 or more cigaretes per day presented a prevalence 1,66(95% CI 1,05 ? 2,64) higher than no smokers. Sedentarium people had 1,24 (95% CI1,01 ? 1,51) more prevalence that non-sedentariun and dissatisfaction with body image1,47 (95% CI 1,07 ? 2,02).Conclusions: Mother education, smoking habit, sedentariness and body imagedissatisfaction are factors related to CMD, which has a high prevalence in the studiedpopulation