The need of epidemiological data on child mental disorders from low-middle income countries

Excerpt

An understanding of the epidemiological aspects of child mental disorders may provide insight into their distribution and etiology as well as information for planning the allocation of funds for mental health services. However, two clear gaps in the epidemiology of child mental disorders are: (a) data on the prevalence rates of these disorders in low-middle income countries (LMIC), and (b) the prevalence rates of child mental disorders in pre-scholars. Recently, Kieling et al.[3] documented prevalence rates of child and adolescent mental health disorders ranging from 10 to 20% in the majority of the few original studies conducted in the population of LMIC (16 surveys identified in the literature). In addition, they found a huge heterogeneity on the prevalence rates of these disorders in children and adolescents from LMIC, reinforcing the difficulties of disentangling the effects of culture on the epidemiology of psychiatric disorders in this age range due to diverse methodological approaches implemented in different studies. Moreover, none of the studies found in LMIC were specifically designed to assess prevalence rates in very young children. …