Mental Health Profile in the Population of 6 to 18 Years Old in Alborz Province, Iran

Alborz province is one of the highly populated provinces of Iran. Epidemiologic studies provide good information for estimating the prevalence of mental health disorders and they can be used to strengthen health policies and promote targeted programs for prevention and treatment of mental health disorders. The aim of this study is to determine the profile of mental health disorders in children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years old living in urban and rural areas of Alborz province.

This wasa cross-sectional study. In this cluster and stratified random sampling survey, 1008 children aged 6 to 18 years living in Alborz province, based on the Persian version of K-SADS-PL, have been studied for mental health problems.

The overall prevalence of mental health disorders in children and adolescents was 13.5%. The most common disorder was enuresis (7.3%) and then anxiety disorders (4.5%), tobacco use (3.8%) and behavioral disorders (2.9%). According to the findings, elimination disorders and anxiety disorders had the highest comorbidity (12.3 and 11.7%, respectively) with the other psychiatric disorders.

The prevalence of mental health problems among youth in Alborz province is similar to that from other studies from developing countries. The high prevalence of enuresis, anxiety disorders and tobacco abuse among children and adolescents suggests to focus on drawing appropriate policies for management of enuresis and prevention and treatment of anxiety disorders.