Prevalencia estimada de trastornos conductuales y emocionales en la población pediátrica en Panamá

Abstract

This study intended to estimate the prevalence of behavioral and emotional disorders in a sample of school-aged children in the city of Panama through cross-sectional analyses conducted during the 2009 academic year. We selected a random sample of students of both sexes between the ages of 6 and 11 years from the eastern sector of the Metropolitan Region of Education. We employed The BASC-2 Structured Developmental History, a comprehensive history and background survey that provides an overview of social, psychological, developmental, educational, and health information about the child. The scale items are related to diagnostic categories of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) and data are obtained through parent and teacher interviews. A total of 131 dyads of parents and teachers were included in the analysis. The estimated global prevalence was 8.1%. The analysis of indi-vidual disorders indicated that the most prevalent conditions were learning difficulties (20.6%), poor study skills (26.0%) and anxiety (15.3%) according to teachers, whereas parents rated withdrawal (10.7%), anxiety (8.4%) and lack of leadership (6.9%) as most prevalent. Less than one in ten children with a disorder was reported as having had contact with mental health services. This study is the first to attempt to estimate the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the pediatric population of Panama. The data indicate an overall prevalence of disorders within the lower range of rates reported in previous studies conducted in Latin America. However, a notable number of children were rated as having learning- and anxiety-related problems, which underscores the need to evaluate further the mental health needs in pediatric populations in future studies.