Características sociodemográficas de las personas con conducta acumuladora/trastorno por acumulación (S. de Diógenes) en la ciudad de Madrid: serie de casos

Abstract

Background: Hoarding disorder causes significant health risks for hoarder and to Public Health, family and neighbouring and security threats motivated by fire hazard. Objective: The present study aims to describe the sociodemographic characteristics of hoarders in the city of Madrid. Method: Setting. 295 cases were selected from 1147 applications for assistance for any unhealthy situations that went from 1 January 2009 to 31 December 2012 at the Technical Unit of Urban Environment and Housing of Madrid Salud. Cases meet any or all of the diagnostic criteria for pathological hoarder described by Randy O Frost et al in 1993. Results: Hoarders have an average age of 64.77 years, are men in 55.9 % of cases and 47% are over 65 years. The majority, 95.6 % are Spanish, and are pensioners 65.1 %. In 129 cases a total of 260,346 kgs of trash and belongings were removed. Conclusions: Hoarding disorder, although rare, causes a serious problem for the person who suffers, a risk to Public Health and safety and a high cost for the high amount of resources his attention and resolution consumes. Our work adds arguments to consider the hoarding disorder as an independent entity like is classified in the DSM-5 of may 2013.