Recognition of mental health problems by primary care physicians in a tertiary care hospital in Nigeria.

This study sought to determine the difference in detection of attendees with mental health problems visiting the General Out-patient clinic of a tertiary institution; the General Health Questionnaires (GHQ-12) were compared with those identified by the physicians.Three hundred and twenty two (322) subjects aged 18 years and above, attending the clinic for the first time, were recruited for the study by a systematic random sampling method. Using a cut off score of '3' on the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), 'Cases' and 'Non-cases' generated were compared with those identified by the doctors. Identification rates for both groups were calculated and the coefficients determined using a two-by-two contingency table.The GHQ-12 identified 46.6% 'cases' while the General Out-patient Clinic (GOPC) doctors identified 6.8% with a diagnostic sensitivity of 8% and a specificity of 94%Despite the high proportion of mental health problems in the GOPC of the hospital, the detection rate by the clinic doctors was low. There is a need for the use of an easy tool like the GHQ-12 for screening and identification of attendees with mental health problems especially in a busy clinic setting.