Abstract
This study examined the extent to which 3559 VA primary care patients with depression symptomatology received depression diagnoses and/or antidepressant prescriptions. Symptomatology was classified as mild (13%), moderate (42%) or severe (45%) based on SCL-20 scores. Diagnosis and treatment was related to depression severity and other patient characteristics. Overall, 44% were neither diagnosed nor treated. Only 22% of those neither diagnosed nor treated for depression received treatment for other psychopathology. Depression treatment performance measures dependent on diagnoses and antidepressant prescriptions from administrative databases exclude undiagnosed patients with significant, treatable, symptomatology.
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Acknowledgements
The research reported here was supported by Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) Service, LIP 61-520, SDR 96-002, and IIR 99-376. Additional support was provided by an HSR&D Postdoctoral Traineeship (Campbell). Drs. Liu, Chaney, and Fihn are presently investigators at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System’s HSR&D Center of Excellence. Dr. Campbell was an HSR&D Fellow and is currently on the Psychology faculty of the University of Montana, Missoula. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the University of Washington.
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Liu, CF., Campbell, D.G., Chaney, E.F. et al. Depression Diagnosis and Antidepressant Treatment among Depressed VA Primary Care Patients. Adm Policy Ment Health 33, 331–341 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-006-0043-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-006-0043-5