Caratteristiche cliniche, sociodemografiche e criticità nella cura del paziente affetto da patologia mentale detenuto in Italia: studio osservazionale di casi consecutivi della durata di sei mesi

Introduction: There are more than 10 million inmates worldwide. Recent studies show that, compared with general population, prisoners have about 2-10-fold higher rate of mental disorders. In order to evaluate severity symptomatology of psychiatric inmates as well as clinical and sociodemographic characteristics, we performed a research on a sample of prisoners secluded in Casa Circondariale di Monza referred for a clinical psychiatric assessment. Materials and methods: Cross-sectional study of consecutive prisoners secluded in Casa Circondariale di Monza referred, over a six-month period, for a clinical psychiatric assessment. For whole sample, clinical and sociodemographic characteristics were collected, a clinical diagnosis in according with DSM-IV-TR was formulated and Clinical Global Impressions (CGI), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D), Mania Rating Scale (MRS), Hamilton Anxiety Scale (HAM-A) and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, version 11 (BIS-11) were administered. Moreover, all patients were prospectively followed until the end of the study and main clinical variables were recorded. Results: In our sample prevalence for a mental disorders was: personality disorders 33.6%; adjustment disorders 26.1%; psychotic disorders 4.2%; mood disorders 10.9%; anxiety disorders 6.7%. Mean total scores obtained at psychometric scales were: GAF 70.5; MRS 3.4; HAM-D 9.1; HAM-A 7.9; BIS-11 68.8; PANSS 42.1; CGI 3.2. Conclusions: Mainly, prisoners affected by mental disorder showed a moderate symptomatic severity. Psychometric scales have been found useful to identify a subgroup of subjects with an increased risk to make self harm. © 2012 Elsevier Srl. Tutti i diritti riservati.