TOPLINE

The rate of any form of treatment for psychiatric disorders in US adults was 61% in 2020-2022, but only 34% of patients received minimally adequate care, new research showed. Additionally, disparities persisted, especially for non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic individuals, men, and adults aged 45-65 years; and greater symptom severity was linked to higher treatment rates.

METHODOLOGY

• The Mental and Substance Use Disorders Prev­alence Study used clinician-administered clinical interviews to collect data from 4764 adults aged 18-65 years (51.1% women; 59.7% non-Hispanic White individuals) selected from a household sample of the US population between 2020 and 2022.
• Psychiatric disorders diagnosed in the study included lifetime and past-year schizophrenia spectrum disorders as well as past-year major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder, bipolar I disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anorexia nervosa, and substance use disorders.
• “Any treatment“ was defined as at least one inpatient or outpatient visit or the use of psychiatric medications in the past year; disorder-specific “minimally adequate treatment“ was defined on the basis of past studies and treatment guidelines.
• The Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scale was used to assess functional impairment and symptom severity after each clinical interview.

TAKEAWAY

• Among the 24.9% of individuals with a past-year psychiatric disorder, 60.7% received any treatment in the past year and 34% received minimally adequate treatment.
• Among patients with a psychiatric disorder, treatment rates varied across disorders, ranging from 59.5% for MDD to 88.2% for anorexia nervosa. Minimally adequate treatment rates were lowest for bipolar I disorder (18.7%) and highest for anorexia nervosa (77.7%), with intermediate rates for schizophrenia spectrum disorders (32.6%), MDD (37.0%), and generalized anxiety disorder (39.6%).
• Participants with GAF scores ≤ 50 were most likely to receive any treatment (68.9%) and minimally adequate treatment (35.6%), whereas those with GAF scores > 70 were least likely to receive any or minimally adequate treatment (48.8% and 28.2%, respectively).
• Patients with a psychiatric disorder and aged 26-44 years were significantly more likely to receive any and minimally adequate treatment than those aged 45-65 years (relative risks [RRs], 1.21 and 1.46, respectively) and women were significantly more likely than men to receive both treatment types (RRs, 1.30 and 1.36). Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic individuals were less likely to receive any treatment (RRs, 0.67 and 0.65, respectively) and minimally adequate treatment (RRs, 0.48 and 0.70) than non-Hispanic White individuals. Participants who did not work during the previous week or were retired were more likely to receive treatment (RR, 1.29) than those who worked during the previous week.

IN PRACTICE

“Compared with prior surveys, the results suggest a modest increase in the rate of US adults receiving treatment for psychiatric disorders. However, rates of minimally adequate treatment remained low,“ the investigators wrote.

“New treatments that are responsive to clinical needs or new approaches to treatment delivery are needed to increase not only the proportion of individuals who receive treatment but also the proportion of individuals who receive minimally adequate care,“ they added.

SOURCE

The study was led by Mark Edlund, MD, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. It was published online on July 22 in Psychiatric Services.

LIMITATIONS

The study was limited by a low response rate (3.7%), lack of precise prevalence rates for certain racial-ethnic groups, lack of data on treatment effectiveness, lack of information on adherence to treatment dose and duration, and influence of the COVID pandemic. Additionally, factors such as attitude toward and access to treatment were not assessed and it was unclear whether providers used evidence-based psychotherapy.

DISCLOSURES

The study was funded by RTI International and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Disclosure information for the study investigators is available in the original study publication.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.