Somatic healthcare utilization among adults with serious mental illness who are receiving community psychiatric services.
OBJECTIVE
Somatic health care utilization was studied among individuals with serious mental illness who were receiving community-based psychiatric services.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study.


METHODS
A total of 200 outpatients, 100 with schizophrenia and 100 with affective disorder, were recruited from randomly selected samples receiving care at two psychiatric centers.


METHODS
Patients were interviewed using questions from national health surveys. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to compare responses from each sample to those of matched subsets of individuals from the general population.


RESULTS
The psychiatric samples were more likely to report receiving some medical care services in the past year than were individuals in the general population including having visited a general medical doctor (Odds ratio, schizophrenia sample = 2.04; Odds ratio, affective disorder sample = 2.37) and having a complete physical examination (Odds ratio, schizophrenia sample = 2.69; Odds ratio, affective disorder sample = 1.74). However, our samples were less likely to receive routine dental care (Odds ratio, schizophrenia sample = 0.46; Odds ratio, affective disorder sample = 0.60). Perceived barriers to receiving medical care were reported significantly more often by the patient groups than the comparison groups (Odds ratios > 3).


CONCLUSIONS
General health services are widely utilized by individuals with serious mental illness who are in outpatient psychiatric care. Dental services remain underutilized, however, and there is a high rate of perceived barriers to receiving medical care in this population.
Dickerson
Faith B
FB
Sheppard Pratt Health System, Baltimore, Maryland 21204, USA. fdickerson@sheppardpratt.org
McNary
Scot W
SW
Brown
Clayton H
CH
Kreyenbuhl
Julie
J
Goldberg
Richard W
RW
Dixon
Lisa B
LB
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015142:Baltimore / Q000453:epidemiology; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003752:Dental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011314:Preventive Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013000:Psychiatric Somatic Therapies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012016:Reference Values; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012938:Social Perception; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014600:Utilization Review