Abstract

Residents in Ilam are high risk for psychiatric morbidity. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of common mental disorders. In an epidemiology of Ex- Post facto study investigates the status of mental disorders among the rural population of Ilam province, the west of Iran during 1996-2005. A census sampling method was used. Mental disorders were classified into five sub-groups including; severe mental disorder, minor mental disorder, epilepsy, intellectual disability and others. The prevalence of any disorder was expressed by a frequency of each disorder per 1000 persons. Data were collected by trained health care providers using a questionnaire. Totally, 201,432 rural residents enrolled to study. The overall prevalence of mental disorders was 17.5 per 1000 persons. The minor mental disorder was the highest type of mental disorders among the study population. The prevalence of mental was higher in female than male. There was a significant relationship between gender and mental disorders (P= 001). About one-fifth of the study population suffer from mental disorder. Women and the age group 35-44 has the highest prevalence of psychiatric disorders than others.