Objective: Multimorbidity, or the occurrence of two or more chronic conditions, is a global challenge, with implications for mortality, morbidity, disability, and life quality. Psychiatric disorders are common among the chronic diseases that affect patients with multimorbidity. It is still not well understood whether psychiatric symptoms, especially depressive symptoms, moderate the effect of multimorbidity on cognition. Methods: We used a large (n=2,681) dataset to assess whether depressive symptomatology moderates the effect of multimorbidity on cognition using structural equation modelling. Results: It was found that the more depressive symptoms and chronic conditions, the worse the cognitive performance, and the higher the educational level, the better the cognitive performance. We found a significant but weak (0.009; p = 0.04) moderating effect. Conclusion: We have provided the first estimate of the moderating effect of depression on the relation between multimorbidity and cognition, which was small. Although this moderation has been implied by many previous studies, it was never previously estimated.

RESUMO Objetivo Investigar as características clínico-epidemiológicas, em uma grande base de dados, dos atendimentos ambulatoriais em saúde mental de crianças no Brasil e identificar relações relevantes entre idade, sexo e três transtornos mentais comuns na infância: transtorno invasivo do desenvolvimento, distúrbio da atividade e da atenção e transtorno depressivo leve. Métodos Extraímos dados públicos de atendimento ambulatorial de crianças no Brasil, oriundos do Sistema de Informação Ambulatorial (SIA), parte do sistema Datasus, de 2008 a 2012. Realizamos análises das taxas de atendimento por 100 mil habitantes e análises posteriores, com regressões logísticas, para transtorno de atenção e hiperatividade (F90.0), transtorno pervasivo do desenvolvimento (F84.0-F84.9) e transtorno depressivo leve (F32.0), controlando por idade e ano da consulta, e estratificando por região. Resultados Transtorno de atenção e hiperatividade foi a condição que mais gerou consultas em todo o país. Analisando por região, encontramos uma taxa elevada de visitas por retardo mental na região Nordeste e episódios depressivos leves na região Sul. As regressões mostraram que crianças mais velhas tinham menos probabilidade de ser consultadas por transtorno da atividade e da atenção (F90.0). Conclusões Nossas análises mostram os padrões das condições psiquiátricas que geram maior demanda nos serviços ambulatoriais de atendimento em psiquiatria infantil e as significativas diferenças regionais. Essas informações podem subsidiar agentes administrativos na tomada de decisão sobre alocação de recursos e treino de equipes em cada região.

ABSTRACT Objective To investigate the clinical epidemiological characteristics of a large data set of visits to outpatient children mental health services in Brazil, as well as to identify relevant relationships between age, sex and three common mental disorders in childhood: pervasive developmental disorders, ADHD, and mild depressive disorders. Methods We extracted data from the Ambulatorial Information System (SIA) part of a public repository, Datasus, regarding child outpatient mental health services in Brazil, from 2008 to 2012. We performed an analysis of the number of visits per one hundred thousand inhabitants and further analyses with logistic regressions for ADHD (F90.0), Pervasive Developmental Disorders (F84.0-F84.9), and Mild Depressive Episode (F32.0) as outcomes, controlling for age, year of the visit, number of new CAPSI stratified by region. Results Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was the most common condition identified across the country. The analyses by region showed a high number of visits due to mental retardation in the Northeast and depressive episodes in the South. Regressions showed that older children are less likely to visit outpatient services with a diagnosis of ADHD (F90.0). Conclusions Our analysis shows the conditions which cause the most burden to the child psychiatry outpatient centers in Brazil and relevant differences between regions. This information has immediate use for the training of staff and allocation of resources in each region.