Medical utilization across the anxiety disorders
Section snippets
Participants
Data were collected from the electronic medical charts of 171 consecutive patients evaluated in an outpatient anxiety disorders clinic. The sample included 41 patients with a principal diagnosis of panic disorder, 36 with GAD, 32 with specific phobia, 31 with OCD, and 31 with social phobia. Sixty-one patients (35.7 percent) had at least one additional Axis I diagnosis, including 29 with an anxiety disorder, 25 with major depressive disorder, and 34 with a different Axis I diagnosis. The mean
Medical utilization and demographic variables
The average anxiety patient accrued 6.2 outpatient clinician visits (SD = 6.3) during the 12 months prior to evaluation in our clinic. The total number of medical visits was unrelated to gender (t [169] = 1.53, p = .13), age (r = .02, p = .75), or marital status (married vs. never married, divorced, or widowed; t [158] = 1.22, p = .22). Demographic variables were significantly correlated with utilization of specific medical services in only five of 33 analyses. Specifically, age was positively correlated
Discussion
On average, anxiety patients visited general and specialty medical providers more than six times during the year prior to their evaluation in an outpatient anxiety disorders clinic. This rate of medical utilization did not include inpatient or surgical treatments, mental health visits, or medication prescriptions. These results are consistent with previous research demonstrating inflated utilization rates among individuals with anxiety disorders (e.g., Kennedy & Schwab, 1997) and highlight the
References (28)
- et al.
Panic disorder patients and their medical care
Psychosomatics
(1999) A cognitive approach to panic
Behaviour Research and Therapy
(1986)- et al.
Panic disorder in emergency department chest pain patients: prevalence, comorbidity, suicidal ideation, and physician recognition
The American Journal of Medicine
(1996) - et al.
Medical utilization and costs in panic disorder: a comparison with social phobia
Journal of Anxiety Disorders
(1998) Anxiety and its disorders: the nature and treatment of anxiety and panic
(2002)- et al.
The phenomenon of panic
Journal of Abnormal Psychology
(1985) Use of mental health services for the treatment of panic disorder
American Journal of Psychiatry
(1986)- et al.
Untreated anxiety among adult primary care patients in a health maintenance organization
Archives of General Psychiatry
(1994) - et al.
The economic burden of anxiety disorders in the 1990s
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
(1999) - et al.
Where do panic attack sufferers seek care?
The Journal of Family Practice
(1995)