Prevalence of Psychiatric Disorders in Male Homeless

Hahm, Bong Jin; Lee, Dong Woo; Lee, Jung Ho; Choi, Young Min; Kim, Bong Seog; Hong, Seong Ha; Cho, Seong Jin; Cho, Maeng Je

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in homeless people is higher than the prevalence in a general population. With the increasing interests in homeless people after the economic crisis in Korea, psychiatrists started to investigate the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in homeless people. This study is to assess the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in homeless men living in a city shelter in Seoul and to compare these results with those of previous epiaemiological studies in Korea of homeless people and abroad.
METHODS
Among 960 homeless men living in a city shelter in Seoul, 420 men were selected randomly from December 14 to December 29, 1999. Eight trained interviewer administered the Korean version of Composite International Diagnostic Interview (K-CIDI) to the subjects. The lifetime, one-year, and one-month prevalence of the psychiatric disorders in this study were compared to those of the previous studies of Korean general population and of homeless people abroad.
RESULTS
The lifetime, one-year, and one-month prevalence of total psychiatric disorders were 71.7%, 49.8% and 45.0% respectively. The lifetime prevalence of nicotine dependence/withdrawal, alcohol use disorders (abuse/dependence), substance use disorders, major depressive disorder, psychotic disorders, and anxiety disorders were 31.0%, 58.6% (39.3%/19.3%), 3.1%, 11.7%, 2.4%, and 16.9% respectively.
CONCLUSION
This study suggested that the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in homeless men is higher than the prevalence in general population, as the previous studies in Korea. The prevalence of alcohol use disorder was highest. The prevalence of non-alcohol substance use disorder and psychotic disorder were lower than the prevalence of these disorders in homeless people of other countries. These results suggest that there is a need to treat the psychiatric disorders, especially alcohol use disorder which is the major psychiatric problem in homeless men.