Treated Psychiatric Morbidity in a Rapidly Developing Society

Objective: To study the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of treated psychiatric patients in a rapidly developing Arab society as well as the contribution of sociocultural factors to the observed trends. Design: Retrospective study of consecutive first time admissions over a 2-year period. Setting: Medical wards of Al-Ain District General Hospital, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates. Subjects: 857 patients aged 12-80 years who were admitted into psychiatric beds (located in medical wards) over a 2-year period. Diagnostic system: Ninth revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9), 1978. Results: A total of 857 first-time admissions consisting of 60.5% males and 39.5% females was studied