A Tertiary Care Health Institution's Psychiatric Outpatients With Physical Illnesses
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Abstract
It is important to identify the physical illnesses in psychiatric patients as part of effective clinical management. The purpose of this research was to explore the type and commonness of physical diseases among psychiatric outpatients. One hundred and twenty five consecutive psychiatric outpatients meeting the inclusion criteria were fully examined with regard to accompanying physical disorders. Clinical history, physical examination, and the results of the investigations permitted a decisive diagnosis. Two related physical illnesses were also considered: the study revealed that a quarter of the patients had related physical illnesses with approximately one-fifth of the diagnoses being new. Among the common physical illnesses were hypertension, respiratory diseases, anaemia, diabetes mellitus and liver diseases. History-taking and physical examination may frequently reveal these conditions. Psychiatrists need to embrace the habit of subjecting their psychiatric patients to regular general physical examination.
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References
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