Profile of patients treated at a mental health reference center and referred to health centers, Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Abstract

To characterize the patients treated at an outpatient Mental Health Referral Center (CERSAM) and to correlate such characteristics with the cross reference for follow-up in General Health Centers, 214 medical records opened from Jun/2003 to Jul/2004 were studied. Socio-demographic and clinical information were compared. Women were the majority of patients (67%); the patient´s average age was 37.7 years old, 28% had no previous history of psychiatric illness, 38% had the diagnosis of schizophrenia and, on average, their duration of medical care in CERSAM lasted 7.7 months. Almost a fourth of all patients (23.4%) dropped out of treatment and 54% were referred to general health centers, but 34% of them returned to the CERSAM for a new appointment. Patients that stayed in the service for more than one year were more likely to be referred to general health centers (p= 0,02). In this study, the mental health referral center assisted the diagnostic categories considered priority for this type of service, referring the patients to health centers located in their own residential area for continuity of treatment in these units.