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Frequency and characteristics of delusions and hallucinations in first admitted patients.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2023

M. Abdelkefi ,
I. Baati ,
M. Mnif ,
F. Guermazi ,
I. Feki ,
R. Sellami  and
J. Masmoudi
M. Abdelkefi*
Affiliation:
psychiatry A, Hedi Chaker university hospital, sfax, Tunisia
I. Baati
Affiliation:
psychiatry A, Hedi Chaker university hospital, sfax, Tunisia
M. Mnif
Affiliation:
psychiatry A, Hedi Chaker university hospital, sfax, Tunisia
F. Guermazi
Affiliation:
psychiatry A, Hedi Chaker university hospital, sfax, Tunisia
I. Feki
Affiliation:
psychiatry A, Hedi Chaker university hospital, sfax, Tunisia
R. Sellami
Affiliation:
psychiatry A, Hedi Chaker university hospital, sfax, Tunisia
J. Masmoudi
Affiliation:
psychiatry A, Hedi Chaker university hospital, sfax, Tunisia
*
*Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Delusions and hallucinations are common in schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders and they are frequently reported at the first admission to psychiatry departments.

Objectives

The study aims to examine the themes and frequency of delusions and hallucinations in first admitted patients.

Methods

Information was collected retrospectively from selected medical files of patients who were admitted for the first time to the department of psychiatry "A" of the university hospital Hedi Chaker, in Sfax, during the years 2020 and 2021.

Results

Ninety patients were included in our study. Their mean age was 34.79 ± 11.4 years, with a sex ratio (M/F) = 1.3. They reached high school in 51.1% of the cases. Half of the patients were smokers, 30% used alcohol and 16.7% used cannabis.

The average age of onset of the disorders was 30.36 years, and the duration of evolution of the illness before hospitalization was 56.54 days. The most common reason for hospitalization was environmental violence (62.5%). The diagnosis of schizophrenia was retained in 32.2% of the cases, and that of bipolar disorder in 23.3% of the cases.

At initial presentation to the ward, 72.2% of patients were found to have delusional beliefs. The most commonly held delusions were delusions of persecution (62.2%), reference (28.9%) bewitchment (27.8%) and grandiosity (26.7%) with changes of behavior in 34.4 % of the patients in response to their delusional beliefs.

Hallucinations reported by 43.3% of the patients were mainly auditory (30%), visual (20%) and 15.6% reported hearing internal voices. Olfactory hallucinations were only reported by 3.3% of the patients.

Conclusions

Delusions of persecution and reference appear to be the main delusional themes in this patient group. Auditory hallucinations were also commonly reported.

A better awareness of clinical presentations of the first admitted patients may aid early identification of the illness and engagement of the patients in the treatment process.

Disclosure of Interest

None Declared

Type
Abstract
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 66 , Special Issue S1: Abstracts of the 31st European Congress of Psychiatry , March 2023 , pp. S871
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the European Psychiatric Association
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