A number of potential risk factors results in premature repatriation of housemaids on mental health grounds. Preventive measures involving recruitment procedures and pre-departure orientation courses are needed to minimise the expatriate failure among the housemaids.

The psychiatric profile of a consecutive series of 69 men and women prisoners referred for assessment over a nine month period was examined. Thirty-six point two percent had a major psychiatric disorder and a further 53.6% had a minor psychiatric illness. One-third of the sample had a previous criminal record, and approximately one-half had past psychiatric contacts. Schizophrenic patients with active symptoms appear to be more likely to commit violent offenses. Of ten prisoners who committed murder, nine were patients with schizophrenia. Almost all the psychotic patients had active symptoms at the time that they committed their offenses. The most probable reason for the commission of their crime was psychosis. Some underlying psychosocial factors are also discussed. Ways of minimizing the vulnerability and victimization of individuals with serious mental disorders are suggested. Because this was a highly selective sample, the results should be viewed with some caution. More research is needed to determine the criminal behaviour of the mentally ill in general, and schizophrenics in particular.

Objectives: To determine the first hospital admission rates and the nature of psychiatric disorders among housemaids and compare them with the Kuwaiti female patients. Subjects and Methods: Based on the International Classification of Diseases (10th revision; ICD-10) symptom checklist, a semi-structured interview was administered to all the housemaids and the Kuwaiti female patients hospitalized during the 2-year study period. Results: The hospital admission rates were 1.86 times higher in housemaids than in the Kuwaiti female patients and the nature of psychiatric disorders was also different in the two groups. The stress-related disorders were more common among housemaids while schizophrenia was the commonest disorder among Kuwaiti patients. Duration of hospital stay was significantly shorter for housemaids, and four fifths of them were repatriated on mental health grounds. Conclusions: The psychiatric morbidity is higher among housemaids than Kuwaiti females and a substantial number of them are prematurely repatriated on health grounds. Further studies are needed to explore the possible pre-immigration risk, and post-immigration precipitating factors, to prevent this ‘expatriate failure’.

The frequency of human leukocyte anti- gen DRB1 alleles was determined in a cohort of 194 Kuwaiti Arabs consisting of 80 schizophrenia patients and 114 ethnically matched healthy controls, using a polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primers method. A total of 12 DRB1 alleles were identified in this Kuwaiti cohort. A statistically significant difference was detected in the frequency of alleles DRB1(*)04 and DRB1(*)13 between the schizophrenia patients and controls. Allele frequency of DRB1(*)04 in schizophrenia patients was 14% compared with nearly 7% in controls (P = 0.028). For DRB1(*)13, the allele frequency was found to be 18% in schizophrenia patients compared with 9% in the controls (P = 0.015). For alleles, DRB1(*)03, DRB1(*)07, and DRB1(*)16 the frequency was higher in controls compared with schizophrenia patients. The frequency of DRB1(*)01, DRB1(*)08, DRB1(*)10, DRB1(*)11, and DRB1(*)15 alleles was almost identical in schizophrenia patients and controls. For the remaining alleles, the differences between the two groups were not statistically significant. Am. J. Med. Genet. (Neuropsychiatr. Genet.) 96:870-872, 2000.

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Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the Bradford Somatic Inventory (BSI), a 21-item questionnaire, to identify psychiatric patients attending a general hospital medical clinic in Kuwait. Methods: The sample consisted of 100 new general hospital medical out-patient clinic attendees. All patients were administered the BSI, and their psychiatric status was established by administration of the Present State Examination. All the patients who met the criteria of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (ICD-10), were grouped as ‘psychiatric’ while the remaining subjects were regarded as ‘non-psychiatric’ patients. The frequency of endorsement and the total BSI scores were computed to determine sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive values of the BSI. Results: Fifty-one of the psychiatric patients met the ICD-10 diagnostic criteria. The psychiatric group reported a significantly higher number of BSI symptoms and had a significantly higher mean BSI total score than the non-psychiatric patients. Using a cut-off score of 13/14, the BSI-21 yielded a sensitivity rate of 72.5% and a specificity rate of 73.47%. Evaluation of a shorter version, the BSI-15, comprising the most frequently endorsed items by the psychiatric patients, revealed similar results. Conclusions: The findings suggest that the BSI-21 is a potentially useful screening instrument to identify psychiatric patients attending general medical out-patient clinics. The shorter version, BSI-15, is easier to administer and equally effective in discriminating the psychiatric from the non-psychiatric group of medical patients.

Objectives: A considerable number of medical out-patients seen in a general hospital are known to suffer from psychiatric rather than/in addition to the physical disorder. Moreover, a substantial number of such patients, passing undetected by the physicians, end up being physically examined and investigated, at times far too extensively. This study was aimed at determining the prevalence of such patients in a general hospital in Kuwait. Methods: The sample consisted of 100 new medical out-patient clinic attenders. Each patient was administered a semi-structured interview. The items of the interview were derived from the Present State Examination, and the 10th revision of the International Classification of Diseases was used to assign psychiatric diagnoses. Results: Fifty-one out of the 100 patients suffered from psychiatric disorders. In only 5 cases was the disorder recognized. Psychiatric disorders were commoner in females and were not related to the nature of the physical disorders. Conclusions: Inclusion of some screening questions about mood disorders in the standard medical interview may help detect some of the psychiatric patients presenting in the general medical out-patient clinics. In addition, periodic clinical meetings between psychiatrists and physicians may enhance physicians’ awareness of the potential psychiatric morbidity amongst the medical out-patients.