Prevalence of adjustment disorder

The adjustments disorders are considered to be very common. Adjustment disorders occurs equally between males and females, and across all cultures. One epidemiological study conducted in children and adolescents found a prevalence rate of 7.6%.

Adjustment disorder has been diagnosed in as many as 50% in special populations of patients who have experienced specific stressors such as cardiac surgery.

A study concerning psychiatric inpatients 1n 1995 found that 7.1% of the adults and 34.4% of the adolescents had an adjustments disorder diagnosis.

Adjustment disorders are frequently diagnosed in patients after head and neck surgery and in patients with other severe medical problems such as cancer, HIV, in patients suffering from burns, early stage multiple sclerosis and patients who have suffered form strokes.

There are the most common psychiatric syndromes seen in cancer patients. Studies employing diagnostic interviews have found the prevalence of adjustments disorder in cancer patients to range from 16% to 42%. 

These rates are far higher than those found either in the general population or in outpatient psychiatry settings. The majority of patients have adjustment disorder mainly with depressed mood, anxious mood and mixed emotional disturbances.

Because many people with adjustment disorder do not seek medical treatment and experience spontaneous remission of symptoms, its incidence is difficult to assess and many considerably higher than these estimates.
Prevalence of adjustment disorder