title: Anxiety disorders in a public mental health system: clinical characteristics and service use patterns.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Anxiety disorders are among the most common forms of psychiatric disorder, yet few investigations have examined the prevalence or service use of clients with anxiety disorders in the public mental health sector.
  
  
  METHODS
  We examined demographics, clinical information, and service use in clients with anxiety disorders enrolled in San Diego County Adult and Older Adult Mental Health Services in fiscal 2002-2003.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Almost 15% of the sample had a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder based on administrative billing data. Most anxiety disorder clients had additional psychiatric diagnoses, most commonly depression. Clients with both anxiety disorders and depression were more likely than those with anxiety or depression alone to use emergency psychiatric services and outpatient services than those with depression alone. Those with anxiety disorders alone used more outpatient services than those with depression alone.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Data were taken from an administrative database.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Data indicate that anxiety disorders are not uncommon in public mental health settings and are associated with higher utilization of outpatient mental health services.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-9116, United States. jwetherell@ucsd.edu
authors.forename: Julie Loebach
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Wetherell
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Laurie A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Lindamer
authors.forename: Steven R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Thorp
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hawthorne
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Richard L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Hough
authors.forename: Piedad
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: Dilip V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Jeste
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003710:Demography; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011635:Public Health Administration