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Depression Diagnosis and Antidepressant Treatment among Depressed VA Primary Care Patients

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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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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Veterans Affairs, Health Services Research and Development Center of Excellence, VA Puget Sound Health Care System, 1100 Olive Way, Suite 1400, Seattle, WA, 98101, USA

    Chuan-Fen Liu, Duncan G. Campbell, Edmund F. Chaney, Yu-Fang Li, Mary McDonell & Stephan D. Fihn

  2. Department of Health Services, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Chuan-Fen Liu, Duncan G. Campbell & Stephan D. Fihn

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Edmund F. Chaney

  4. Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Systems, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Yu-Fang Li

  5. Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Stephan D. Fihn

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  1. Chuan-Fen Liu
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  2. Duncan G. Campbell
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  3. Edmund F. Chaney
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  4. Yu-Fang Li
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  5. Mary McDonell
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  6. Stephan D. Fihn
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Correspondence to Chuan-Fen Liu.

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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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