Sex differences and the influence of social factors in a Chilean urban psychiatric hospital population

Background: The epidemiological literature has reported differences by sex in the prevalence of psychiatric diagnoses. However, we know little about how other socio-demographic factors participate in these differences. Aim: To identify the socio-demographic factors that correlate with prevalent psychiatric diagnoses in women and men in a Chilean urban psychiatric hospital population. Method: Socio-demographic information (age, educational level, marital status, family group and work status), psychiatric diagnoses and sex of the population were collected for 3,920 patients of a tertiary care hospital during a period of 8 years (2007–2014). The data were subjected to bivariate and multivariate analyses comparing the results by sex. Results: Among the most prevalent psychiatric diagnoses, those significantly correlated with sex were eating disorders and major depression (women) and schizophrenia (men). Socio-demographic factors behave differently in men and women regarding those diagnoses. Among the differences, working and being married correlated directly with the diagnosis of depression only among women. Living alone correlated directly with the diagnosis of schizophrenia among men, but correlated inversely among women. Conclusion: Dissimilar associations between sex, psychiatric diagnosis and socio-demographic factors found in this Latin American sample invite us to reflect on how social conditions crosscut the relation between sex and psychopathology and to include gender perspectives in psychiatric practices.