How do primary care clinicians manage childhood mood and anxiety syndromes?
OBJECTIVE
To describe how primary care clinicians manage children in whom they diagnose mood or anxiety syndromes.


METHODS
This study is a secondary analysis of data from the multi-site Child Behavior Study (CBS)--a cross-sectional survey of primary care management of psychosocial problems. The management of children in whom clinicians identified mood or anxiety syndromes is described and compared with the management of children in whom they identified other psychosocial problems. Recruitment for the CBS occurred in 206 primary care practices in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada from October 1994 through June 1997. Participants were 20,861 consecutively sampled primary care attendees aged 4-15 years and 395 clinicians. Primary outcome measures for this report are rates of referral to specialized mental health care and rates of active primary care management (i.e., scheduling a follow-up appointment and/or providing ongoing counseling and/or psychotropic prescription).


RESULTS
Identification of a mood or anxiety syndrome was associated with increased rates of referral to mental health compared with rates for children with other psychosocial problems. There was no effect on the proportion of children counseled during the visit. In fact, unless accompanied by a co-morbid behavioral syndrome, children receiving the diagnosis of a mood or anxiety syndrome were less likely to be offered a scheduled follow-up appointment. Rates of prescription of anti-depressants or anti-anxiety agents were higher for mood/anxiety groups but this was still uncommon (6.7%).


CONCLUSIONS
Active management of childhood mood and anxiety syndromes in primary care was uncommon in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada in the mid-1990s.
Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305-5719, USA. fwren@stanford.edu
Frances J
FJ
Wren
Sarah H
SH
Scholle
Jungeun
J
Heo
Diane M
DM
Comer
D000293:Adolescent; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000208:ethnology / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003376:Counseling / Q000379:methods; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000208:ethnology / Q000628:therapy*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D011619:Psychotropic Drugs