Exploring the Presence of Personality Disorders in a Sample of Psychiatric Inpatients
Author(s): Milana Kovanicova, Zuzana Kubasovska, Maria Pallayova
Objective: The study sought to explore the presence and determine the prevalence of personality disorders and their psychiatric comorbidities in a Slovakian psychiatric inpatient sample. Secondary goals were to describe the demographic determinants of personality disorders and to compare the prevalences of the particular personality disorders over the past two decades.
Methods: This was a retrospective chart review study of psychiatric inpatients admitted to the 1st Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Louis Pasteur in Kosice, Slovakia during the years 2016-2017 who met the inclusion criteria and underwent psychological examination using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II (SCID-II).
Results: Personality disorder was diagnosed in 146 (76%) of the 192 enrolled inpatients. The most prevalent were borderline (37.7%), obsessive-compulsive (15.8%), dependent (10.3%), and narcissistic (10.3%) personality disorder. Cluster B comprised 80 subjects (58%), followed by Cluster C with 50 subjects (36.2%) and Cluster A with 8 subjects (5.8%). The most common psychiatric comorbidities were code F40-F48 Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders (27.6%), followed by F10-F19 Mental and behavioral disorders due to psychoactive substance use (24.6%), and F30-F39 Mood (affective) disorders (23.9%). The prevalence of Cluster C increased, whereas Cluster A prevalence decreased over the past two decades. There was an increase in the prevalence of borderline and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder; the schizoid and the other personality disorders prevalences considerably decreased.
Conclusion: The findings of high prevalence of personality disorders highlight the need for interviewing psychiatric inpatients for both personality disorders and psychiatric disorders in order to optimize their treatment.