Estudio descriptivo de series de casos de trastorno delirante

Abstract

Objective:The objective of this study is to investigate the demographic, environmental, psychosocial and clinical characteristics in a group of patients with delusional disorder (DD). Methodology: Retrospective descriptive study of DD cases registered at Psychiatry and Mental Hygiene Clinic of Cordoba according to DSM-IV/V criteria was conducted. We obtained a sample of 261 DD patients who met the inclusion criteria. Data and variables collected were divided into 4 groups: I. Socio-demographic and general data; II. DD risk factors (personal and family); III. DD clinical picture and diagnosis (presentation, symptoms, disability, use of health care resources, treatment, and evolution). Results: The proportion of males versus females was of 1.12. Only 16.5% of patients could not read or write. At the first visit of the psychiatry clinic, 56.3% of the patients were married and about half of them shared home. About 16.9% of patients had a past history of alcohol consumption, and 2.3% consumed other drugs. The most frequent subtype with the persecutory with 129 cases (49.4%). The mean delay in psychiatric attention was 43.21 months; the minimum value with 27 months was observed in the somatic subtype and the maximum value with 70 months was observed in jealous subtype. Ideas of reference and of persecution were found in 83.9% and 82.0% respectively. Conclusions: It is necessary to conduct future prospective studies to investigate the risk factors associated with the DD.