정신과에 자문의뢰된 당뇨병환자들의 임상적 특징

Clinical Characteristics of Patients with Diabets Mellitus Referred for Psychiatric Consultation

Psychiatric consultation notes were reviewed retrospectively to investigate clinical characteristics of 87 inpatients with diabetes mellitus referred for psychiatric consultation. The findings are as follow • 1) Psychiatric consultation was referred more frequently in women than in men. It was most frequently referred in the sixth decade. 2 ) 28 % of the patients were referred without specific reasons of consultation request, whereas 72% were referred with specific reasons. In case of the latter, the most frequent consultation requests were for depression and unexplained somatic symptoms. 3) In premorbid personality, 43% of the patients were obsessive-compulsive, whereas 16% were passive-dependent. 4) Depression and somatic concern were most common among the patients，psychopathologies observed by the psychiatric consultants. 5) Complication of diabetes mellitus was most frequent as the precipitating facor directly related to diabetes mellitus. On the other hand, interpersonal conflict was most frequent as the preciptiating factor directly related to diabetes mellitus. 6 ) In distribution of psychiatric diagnosis, adjustment disorder was most common, followed by depressive disorder and dementia in descending order. The above results suggest that in treatment of the diabetics, both psychiatric consultants and consultees’ attention needs to be focused on their therapeutic role in specific psychiatric illnesses such as adjustment disorder and depressive disorder. In addition, they should be concerned with the effect of diabetic process on mental function such as dementia