%0 Journal Article
%T Risk factors associated with mental illness in Oyo State, Nigeria: A Community based study
%A OE Amoran
%A TO Lawoyin
%A OO Oni
%J Annals of General Psychiatry
%D 2005
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1744-859x-4-19
%X This cross-sectional, community- based survey was carried out among adults in three randomly selected LGAs using multi-stage sampling technique.A total of 1105 respondents were assessed in all. The overall prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in Oyo state Nigeria was found to be 21.9%, (18.4% in the urban areas and 28.4% in the rural areas, p = 0.005). Young age ¡Ü 19 yrs (X2 = 20.41, p = 0.00013), Unemployment (X2 = 11.86 p = 0.0005), living condition below average (X2 = 12.21, p = 0.00047), physical health (X2 = 6.07, p = 0.014), and large family size (X2 = 14.09 p = 0.00017) were associated with increase risk for psychiatric morbidity.Following logistic regression analysis, Unemployment (C.I = 1.18¨C3.70, OR -2.1) and living conditions perceived to be above average (C.I = 1.99¨C5.50, OR-3.3) were significant predictors of mental illness while family size less than 6 (C.I = 0.86¨C0.97, OR-0.91) was protective.The teenagers and the rural populations are in greater need of mental health promotional services. Family planning should be made freely available in order to reduce the family size and hence incidence of mental illness in the African population.Mental health is defined as the capacity to work, capacity to love and the capacity to play and for recreation [1]. Approximately one in five of the world's youth, 15 years and younger suffer from mild to severe mental disorders. A large number of these children remain undetected and untreated [2]. It must be noted that mental health is one of the more recently added components of Primary Health Care (PHC) and means more than merely the presence or absence of obvious mental illness. In Nigeria 28.5% of those attending primary care setting in an urban area were found to have psychiatric morbidity [3,4]. The disintegration of the traditional, extended family due to factors such as economic migration inevitably creates socio-cultural changes that may affect the mental health of the individuals in the society. Furthermore, con
%U http://www.annals-general-psychiatry.com/content/4/1/19