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The present study is an assessment of the rate and severity of tobacco consumption in outpatients with schizophrenia, and the determinants of smoking behaviour. Sixty-four patients, assessed by the Item Group Checklist section of the SCAN interview and fitting DSM-IV criteria, were evaluated with CGI and the PANSS scales. In addition, they completed STAI (Spielberger), EPQ (Eysenck), and TPQ (Cloninger) questionnaires. Tobacco dependence was assessed by the Fagerström test. One hundred and thirty-seven consecutive outpatients were psychiatric controls. Forty-one out of 64 patients with schizophrenia (64.1%) were current smokers, this rate being significantly higher than in other psychiatric patients and general population. The severity of cigarette consumption in smokers was greater (mean of 22.4 cigarettes/day) than in the general population, but it was not different from that of other psychiatric patients. For patients with schizophrenia, no one variable (except male sex) was different between smokers and non-smokers, but the number of cigarettes/day correlated with state anxiety, trait anxiety, and neuroticism. In the multivariate analysis, the only variable that remained significant was neuroticism. The relationship between clinical features and severity of smoking behaviour may be linked to non-specific variables such as neuroticism and anxiety, but not to psychotic symptoms.

The aims of the present study were to determine the acceptability of the Spanish version of the Short Form (SF-36) health survey questionnaire for its use in mental health research on the general population, and to evaluate its internal and external validity, using data obtained from a representative community sample of 1250 adults of working age. The internal consistency of the different dimensions of the questionnaire was high. Concurrent validity was tested by examining its correlation with the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Construct validity was determined by studying the extent to which scores on different variables reflected the expected distribution of health status for and between certain groups. Our findings provide strong evidence for the acceptability and validity of the SF-36 when used as part of a community mental health survey.

This paper examines the association of clinical and sociodemographic factors, including age and sex, with the diagnostic characteristics of first episodes of schizophrenia. The study included all patients with a first episode of schizophrenia who made contact with any of the public mental health services of the Autonomous Region of Cantabria in Northern Spain over a period of 2 years. Diagnostic characteristics were determined using the Spanish version of the Present State Examination (PSE-9), and the Scales for the Assessment of Positive and Negative Symptoms (SAPS and SANS, respectively). The study confirms that the onset of schizophrenia tends to occur earlier in men than in women. However, neither sex nor age of onset were found to be associated with the clinical and psychopathological characteristics of the patients as established by the PSE-CATEGO-ID system. Furthermore, no other factors were found to be associated with these diagnostic characteristics. Being female, having a family history of mental illness, and a poor premorbid adjustment were found to predict negative symptoms as defined by SANS/SAPS scales.

A two-stage cross-sectional survey was performed in a representative rural sample of the autonomous community of Cantabria, to investigate the social, medical and psychopathological factors associated with alcohol consumption. Alcohol consumption was investigated by means of a specific questionnaire. Mental and physical health was evaluated in the first-stage sample using: (1) the General Health Questionnaire, (2) the Cornell Medical Index. In the second stage all members of the sample were interviewed at home using the 140-item version of the Present State Examination (PSE-9). We found that 25.4% of males and 0.6% of females were consuming more than 63 alcohol units per week. Alcohol consumption was significantly associated with different social variables. Although it was possible to detect an increase in weekend drinking, especially in the heavy alcohol users, daily alcohol consumption, mainly around meals, was the predominant drinking pattern. We also found a significant inverse association between excessive alcohol consumption and the presence of physical or mental illness. Excessive alcohol use tended to be associated in males with depression and in females, with anxiety.

This epidemiological investigation examines factors determining medical consultation in people with probable minor psychiatric morbidity. About 54% of people with probable minor psychiatric morbidity and about 23% of the (numerically much greater) remainder with lower probability of psychiatric morbidity consulted a doctor, usually a primary care physician, in the two weeks prior to a research interview. Medical consultation rates were higher in females than in males. The dominant finding was that in people with probable minor psychiatric morbidity physical illness was strongly associated with medical consultation. Almost 89% of males and 97% of females with probable minor psychiatric morbidity and physical illness consulted a doctor in the two weeks prior to interview. Logistic regression modelling was used to investigate the joint effects on medical consultation of physical illness and six socio-demographic variables, and physical illness emerged as the major single determinant of medical consultation in women and, in men, it exerted its effect through an interaction with lower educational level.

This paper examines sex differences in psychiatric morbidity, using data from a community sample. The PSE-CATEGO-ID system was used to evaluate psychopathology. Six sociodemographic factors and physical illness were taken as independent variables. Females exhibit both a significantly higher psychiatric morbidity than males and a predominance of syndromes closely related to depression (SD; OD syndromes) and anxiety (GA; SA; TE; IT syndromes). Logistic modelling analysis, carried out separately for each sex, yielded different models. Psychiatric illness in men was best predicted by physical illness, unemployment and the interaction between the two. In contrast, physical illness emerged, in women, as the only factor exerting significant effects on psychiatric morbidity.

This paper examines the effect of psychiatric morbidity, as measured by the GHQ-60, on the probability of being in contact with a primary care physician, and the socio-demographic factors which influenced this effect. We found that the presence of psychiatric morbidity emerged as a major determinant of primary care utilization in both sexes, and about one-sixth of consultations in men and one-fifth of consultations in women could be attributed to it. Logistic modelling was used to investigate the joint effect on general practitioner consultation of psychiatric morbidity and seven socio-demographic variables. Sex, age, and psychiatric morbidity exerted independent, but not interactive, effects on consultation.

This study examined, in health care attenders, the effect of different sociodemographic variables and physical illness on the probability of suffering from mental disorders. In health centres, the prevalence of mental disorders was 19.3% (12.4% for males and 23.8% for females). Logistic modelling was used to investigate the joint effect on psychiatric morbidity of 6 sociodemographic variables and physical illness. It was found that sex, age, and physical illness exerted independent but not interactive effects on the probability of psychiatric morbidity.

A study was conducted using data obtained from the first stage of a community survey in Spain, in which the 60-item version of the GHQ was administered to 1224 adults. Three hypotheses concerning respondents aged under 55 years were tested. The first was that in the context of a principal-components analysis, a greater proportion of the explained variance would be accounted for by the first (general) factor in women than in men. This was supported. The second hypothesis was that the intercorrelations between the GHQ-28 subscales would be greater for women than for men. This was refuted. The third hypothesis was that the differentiation between anxiety and depression would be greater in men than in women. This was supported. The differences investigated were found not to apply among respondents aged 55 years and over.

Psychotropic drug use was investigated using a two-stage survey of a random sample of persons aged 17 and over from a rural Spanish community. It was found that 6.9%, 11.8% and 25.1% of the population were consuming psychotropic, analgesic and somatic medicines respectively. Women presented a higher rate of psychotropic use than men (prevalence for women 10.7%, for men 2.6%). This female predominance was found to be significantly related to sociodemographic and medical factors. Psychotropic use was also associated with the physical health of the respondent. The coexistence of physical and mental illness generated an increase of consumption, whereas the absence of both types of illness was associated with a very low rate. The rates for physical and for mental illness alone were intermediate and were almost equal.