Toward Population Health: Using a Learning Behavioral Health System and Measurement-Based Care to Improve Access, Care, Outcomes, and Disparities.

Achieving population behavioral health is urgently needed. The mental health system struggles with enormous challenges of providing access to mental health services, improving quality and equitability of care, and ensuring good health outcomes across subpopulations. Little data exists about increasing access within highly constrained resources, staging/sequencing treatment along care pathways, or personalizing treatments. The conceptual model of the learning healthcare system offers a potential paradigm shift for addressing these challenges. In this article we present an overview of how the three constructs of population health, learning health systems, and measurement-based care are inter-related, and we provide an example of how one academic, community-based, safety net health system is approaching integrating these paradigms into its service delivery system. Implementation outcomes will be described in a subsequent publication. We close by discussing how ultimately, to meaningfully improve population behavioral health, a learning healthcare system could expand into a learning health community in order to target critical points of prevention and intervention.

Participants' Engagement With and Results From a Web-Based Integrative Population Mental Wellness Program (CHAMindWell) During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Program Evaluation Study.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic involved a prolonged period of collective trauma and stress during which substantial increases in mental health concerns, like depression and anxiety, were observed across the population. In this context, CHAMindWell was developed as a web-based intervention to improve resilience and reduce symptom severity among a public health care system's patient population. OBJECTIVE: This program evaluation was conducted to explore participants' engagement with and outcomes from CHAMindWell by retrospectively examining demographic information and mental health symptom severity scores throughout program participation. METHODS: We examined participants' symptom severity scores from repeated, web-based symptom screenings through Computerized Adaptive Testing for Mental Health (CAT-MH) surveys, and categorized participants into symptom severity-based tiers (tier 1=asymptomatic to mild; tier 2=moderate; and tier 3=severe). Participants were provided tier-based mindfulness resources, treatment recommendations, and referrals. Logistic regressions were conducted to evaluate associations between demographic variables and survey completion. The McNemar exact test and paired sample t tests were performed to evaluate changes in the numbers of participants in tier 1 versus tier 2 or 3 and changes in depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder severity scores between baseline and follow-up. RESULTS: The program enrolled 903 participants (664/903, 73.5% female; 556/903, 61.6% White; 113/903, 12.5% Black; 84/903, 9.3% Asian; 7/903, 0.8% Native; 36/903, 4% other; and 227/903, 25.1% Hispanic) between December 16, 2020, and March 17, 2022. Of those, 623 (69%) completed a baseline CAT-MH survey, and 196 completed at least one follow-up survey 3 to 6 months after baseline. White racial identity was associated with completing baseline CAT-MH (odds ratio [OR] 1.80, 95% CI 1.14-2.84; P=.01). Participants' odds of having symptom severity below the clinical threshold (ie, tier 1) were significantly greater at follow-up (OR 2.60, 95% CI 1.40-5.08; P=.001), and significant reductions were observed across symptom domains over time. CONCLUSIONS: CHAMindWell is associated with reduced severity of mental health symptoms. Future work should aim to address program engagement inequities and attrition and compare the impacts of CHAMindWell to a control condition to better characterize its effects.

Remote Care Management for Older Adult Populations With Elevated Prevalence of Depression or Anxiety and Comorbid Chronic Medical Illness: A Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Comorbidity of psychiatric and medical illnesses among older adult populations is highly prevalent and associated with adverse outcomes. Care management is a common form of outpatient support for both psychiatric and medical conditions in which assessment, care planning, and care coordination are provided. Although care management is often remote and delivered by telephone, the evidence supporting this model of care is uncertain. OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic review of the literature on remote care management programs for older adult populations with elevated prevalence of depression or anxiety and comorbid chronic medical illness. METHODS: A systematic review was performed in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. A multidatabase search was performed. Articles were included for review if they studied fully remote care management for older adult populations with elevated prevalence of depression or anxiety and chronic medical illness or poor physical health. A narrative synthesis was performed. RESULTS: A total of 6 articles representing 6 unique studies met inclusion criteria. The 6 studies included 4 randomized controlled trials, 1 case-matched retrospective cohort study, and 1 pre-post analysis. Two studies focused on specific medical conditions. All interventions were entirely telephonic. Five of 6 studies involved an intervention that was 3 to 6 months in duration. Across the 6 studies, care management demonstrated mixed results in terms of impact on psychiatric outcomes and limited impact on medical outcomes. No studies demonstrated a statistically significant impact on health care utilization or cost. CONCLUSIONS: Among older adult populations with elevated prevalence of depression or anxiety and comorbid chronic medical illness, remote care management may have favorable impact on psychiatric symptoms, but impact on physical health and health care utilization is uncertain. Future research should focus on identifying effective models and elements of remote care management for this population, with a particular focus on optimizing medical outcomes.

Promoting Population Behavioral Health in a Safety-Net Health System During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been expected to lead to substantial increases in need for behavioral health care. A population health framework can facilitate the development of interventions and policies to promote the equitable distribution of care across the population. This column describes the application of population behavioral health principles in a safety-net health system during the pandemic. The approach includes stepped models of care, interventions to target individuals at high behavioral health risk, and measurement-based care. Early data suggest that these strategies have resulted in expanded behavioral health care capacity.

Identification of hospitalizations for intentional self-harm when E-codes are incompletely recorded.

CONTEXT: Suicidal behavior has gained attention as an adverse outcome of prescription drug use. Hospitalizations for intentional self-harm, including suicide, can be identified in administrative claims databases using external cause of injury codes (E-codes). However, rates of E-code completeness in US government and commercial claims databases are low due to issues with hospital billing software. OBJECTIVE: To develop an algorithm to identify intentional self-harm hospitalizations using recorded injury and psychiatric diagnosis codes in the absence of E-code reporting. METHODS: We sampled hospitalizations with an injury diagnosis (ICD-9 800-995) from two databases with high rates of E-coding completeness: 1999-2001 British Columbia, Canada data and the 2004 US Nationwide Inpatient Sample. Our gold standard for intentional self-harm was a diagnosis of E950-E958. We constructed algorithms to identify these hospitalizations using information on type of injury and presence of specific psychiatric diagnoses. RESULTS: The algorithm that identified intentional self-harm hospitalizations with high sensitivity and specificity was a diagnosis of poisoning, toxic effects, open wound to elbow, wrist, or forearm, or asphyxiation; plus a diagnosis of depression, mania, personality disorder, psychotic disorder, or adjustment reaction. This had a sensitivity of 63%, specificity of 99% and positive predictive value (PPV) of 86% in the Canadian database. Values in the US data were 74, 98, and 73%. PPV was highest (80%) in patients under 25 and lowest those over 65 (44%). CONCLUSIONS: The proposed algorithm may be useful for researchers attempting to study intentional self-harm in claims databases with incomplete E-code reporting, especially among younger populations.

Impact of drug cost sharing on service use and adverse clinical outcomes in elderly receiving antidepressants.

BACKGROUND: Depression imposes enormous burdens on the elderly. Despite this, rates of initiation of and adherence to recommended pharmacotherapy are frequently low in this population. Although initiatives such as the Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) have improved seniors' access to antidepressants, there are concerns that the patient cost-sharing incorporated in the MMA may have unintended consequences if it reduces essential drug use. Age-related pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic changes could make seniors particularly vulnerable to antidepressant regimens used inappropriately to save costs, increasing their risks of morbidity, hospitalizations, and nursing home placements. Two sequential large-scale "natural experiments'' in British Columbia provide a unique opportunity to evaluate the effect of cost sharing on outcomes and mental health service use among seniors. In January 2002 the province introduced a CAD 25 copay (CAD10 for low-income seniors). In May 2003 this copay policy was replaced by a second policy consisting of an income-based deductible, 25% coinsurance once the deductible was met, and full coverage once an out-of-pocket ceiling was met. The transition between the two policies is analogous to what many U.S. seniors experience when they transition from private insurance requiring copays to Medicare Part D requiring deductibles and coinsurance. AIMS: To evaluate whether declines in antidepressant initiation after the introduction of two drug cost-sharing policies in British Columbia were associated with increased use of physician services, hospitalizations, and nursing home admissions among all British Columbia residents aged 65+. METHODS: Records of physician service use, inpatient hospitalizations, and residential care admissions were obtained from administrative databases. Population-level patterns over time were plotted, and effects of implementing the cost-sharing policies examined in segmented linear regression models. RESULTS: Neither policy affected the rates of visits to physicians or psychiatrists for depression, hospitalizations with a depression diagnosis, or long-term care admissions. DISCUSSION: The cost-sharing policies studied may have contained non-essential antidepressant use without substantially increasing mental health service utilization. However, it is possible that the policies had effects that we were unable to detect, such as increasing rates of visits to social workers or psychologists or forcing patients to reduce other spending. Further, the sequential implementation of the policy changes, makes it difficult to estimate the effect of a direct change from full coverage to a coinsurance/income-based deductible policy. IMPLICATIONS FOR HEALTH POLICIES: It may be possible to design policies to contain non-essential antidepressant use without substantially increasing other service utilization or adverse events. However, because undertreatment remains a serious problem among depressed elderly, well-designed prescription drug policies should be coupled with interventions to address under-treatment.

Invited Commentary: Assessing treatment effects by using observational analyses--opportunities and limitations.

Making decisions about medical treatments based upon valid evidence is critical to improve health-care quality, outcomes, and value. Although such research commonly connotes the use of randomized controlled trials, experimental methods are not always feasible, and research using observational, quasi-experimental, and other nonexperimental methods may also be important. At the same time, nonexperimental methods are inherently susceptible to various types of bias and thus present special challenges in the search for valid and generalizable evidence. The study by Gardarsdottir et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 2009;170(3):280-285), on which this commentary is based, addresses a key potential source of bias -- mismeasurement of patients' duration of treatment -- in previous research on pharmacotherapy for depression. However, the authors' study is unlikely to address other potential sources of bias, which may make interpretation of their findings more difficult.

Health advisories and patterns of patient monitoring among new users of antidepressant medications.

INTRODUCTION: In 2003, more intense monitoring of patients initiating antidepressants was advised because of emerging concerns of suicidality. We sought to identify patterns of patient monitoring after antidepressant initiation in British Columbia before and after issuance of health advisories. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a cohort study of antidepressant initiators between 1999 and 2005 using healthcare utilization data of all British Columbia residents. For the periods before (1999-2001) and after (2004-2005), health advisories concerning suicidality associated with antidepressants, we assessed monitoring intensity by calculating weekly physician and psychotherapy visit rates since antidepressant initiation. We also estimated monitoring patterns as the proportion of individuals who received weekly in-person contact during the first 4 weeks of treatment, then biweekly visits for 4 weeks, and then a visit at 12 weeks, as a proxy for intensive monitoring. RESULTS: Patterns of monitoring intensity were similar before and after the health advisories, but the level of intensity was lower after the advisory period. Overall, monitoring intensity peaked in the 4 weeks after antidepressant initiation. Weekly numbers of visits per subject during these 4 weeks were between 0.44 and 0.49 before the advisory and from 0.39 to 0.44 after the advisory. Among all initiators stratified by year of initiation, between 21% and 25% received intensive monitoring, and this proportion generally decreased on a yearly basis. DISCUSSION: Monitoring intensity for patients with depression initiating antidepressants decreased after the period of emergence and greater awareness of the association between antidepressants and suicidality.

Assessing residual confounding of the association between antipsychotic medications and risk of death using survey data.

BACKGROUND: Nonrandomised studies on the causal effects of psychotropic medications may be biased by patient characteristics that are not fully adjusted. OBJECTIVE: Studies using linked claims databases found that typical antipsychotic medications were associated with increased short-term mortality compared with atypical antipsychotics. It has been suggested that such results may be due to residual confounding by factors that cannot be measured in claims databases. Using detailed survey data we identified the direction and magnitude of such residual confounding. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey data. PARTICIPANTS: 17 776 participants aged > or =65 years from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS). MEASUREMENTS: To determine the association between typical antipsychotic use and potential confounding factors we assessed five factors not measured in Medicare claims data but in the MCBS, i.e. body mass index, smoking, activities of daily living (ADL) score, cognitive impairment and Rosow-Breslau physical impairment scale. We estimated adjusted associations between these factors and antipsychotic use. Combined with literature estimates of the independent effect of confounders on death, we computed the extent of residual confounding caused by a failure to adjust for these factors. RESULTS: Comparing typical antipsychotic users with atypical antipsychotic users, we found that not adjusting for impairments in the ADL score led to an underestimation of the association with death (-13%), as did a failure to adjust for cognitive impairment (-7%). The combination of all five unmeasured confounders resulted in a net confounding of -5% (range -19% to +2%). After correction, the reported association between typical antipsychotic use and death compared with atypical antipsychotic use was slightly increased from a relative risk (RR) of 1.37 to 1.44 (95% CI 1.33, 1.56). Comparing any antipsychotic use with non-users would result in overestimations of >50% if cognitive impairment remained unadjusted. CONCLUSION: Claims data studies tend to underestimate the association of typical antipsychotics with death compared with atypical antipsychotics because of residual confounding by measures of frailty. Studies comparing antipsychotic use with non-users may substantially overestimate harmful effects of antipsychotics.

Disruption of existing mental health treatments and failure to initiate new treatment after Hurricane Katrina.

OBJECTIVE: The authors examined the disruption of ongoing treatments among individuals with preexisting mental disorders and the failure to initiate treatment among individuals with new-onset mental disorders in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. METHODS: English-speaking adult Katrina survivors (N=1,043) responded to a telephone survey administered between January and March of 2006. The survey assessed posthurricane treatment of emotional problems and barriers to treatment among respondents with preexisting mental disorders as well as those with new-onset disorders posthurricane. RESULTS: Among respondents with preexisting mental disorders who reported using mental health services in the year before the hurricane, 22.9% experienced reduction in or termination of treatment after Katrina. Among those respondents without preexisting mental disorders who developed new-onset disorders after the hurricane, 18.5% received some form of treatment for emotional problems. Reasons for failing to continue treatment among preexisting cases primarily involved structural barriers to treatment, while reasons for failing to seek treatment among new-onset cases primarily involved low perceived need for treatment. The majority (64.5%) of respondents receiving treatment post-Katrina were treated by general medical providers and received medication but no psychotherapy. Treatment of new-onset cases was positively related to age and income, while continued treatment of preexisting cases was positively related to race/ethnicity (non-Hispanic whites) and having health insurance. CONCLUSIONS: Many Hurricane Katrina survivors with mental disorders experienced unmet treatment needs, including frequent disruptions of existing care and widespread failure to initiate treatment for new-onset disorders. Future disaster management plans should anticipate both types of treatment needs.

Use of mental health services for anxiety, mood, and substance disorders in 17 countries in the WHO world mental health surveys.

BACKGROUND: Mental disorders are major causes of disability worldwide, including in the low-income and middle-income countries least able to bear such burdens. We describe mental health care in 17 countries participating in the WHO world mental health (WMH) survey initiative and examine unmet needs for treatment. METHODS: Face-to-face household surveys were undertaken with 84,850 community adult respondents in low-income or middle-income (Colombia, Lebanon, Mexico, Nigeria, China, South Africa, Ukraine) and high-income countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, USA). Prevalence and severity of mental disorders over 12 months, and mental health service use, were assessed with the WMH composite international diagnostic interview. Logistic regression analysis was used to study sociodemographic predictors of receiving any 12-month services. FINDINGS: The number of respondents using any 12-month mental health services (57 [2%; Nigeria] to 1477 [18%; USA]) was generally lower in developing than in developed countries, and the proportion receiving services tended to correspond to countries' percentages of gross domestic product spent on health care. Although seriousness of disorder was related to service use, only five (11%; China) to 46 (61%; Belgium) of patients with severe disorders received any care in the previous year. General medical sectors were the largest sources of mental health services. For respondents initiating treatments, 152 (70%; Germany) to 129 (95%; Italy) received any follow-up care, and one (10%; Nigeria) to 113 (42%; France) received treatments meeting minimum standards for adequacy. Patients who were male, married, less-educated, and at the extremes of age or income were treated less. INTERPRETATION: Unmet needs for mental health treatment are pervasive and especially concerning in less-developed countries. Alleviation of these unmet needs will require expansion and optimum allocation of treatment resources.

Risk of death in elderly users of conventional vs. atypical antipsychotic medications.

BACKGROUND: Recently, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an advisory stating that atypical antipsychotic medications increase mortality among elderly patients. However, the advisory did not apply to conventional antipsychotic medications; the risk of death with these older agents is not known. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study involving 22,890 patients 65 years of age or older who had drug insurance benefits in Pennsylvania and who began receiving a conventional or atypical antipsychotic medication between 1994 and 2003. Analyses of mortality rates and Cox proportional-hazards models were used to compare the risk of death within 180 days, less than 40 days, 40 to 79 days, and 80 to 180 days after the initiation of therapy with an antipsychotic medication. We controlled for potential confounding variables with the use of traditional multivariate Cox models, propensity-score adjustments, and an instrumental-variable analysis. RESULTS: Conventional antipsychotic medications were associated with a significantly higher adjusted risk of death than were atypical antipsychotic medications at all intervals studied (< or =180 days: relative risk, 1.37; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.27 to 1.49; <40 days: relative risk, 1.56; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.37 to 1.78; 40 to 79 days: relative risk, 1.37; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.19 to 1.59; and 80 to 180 days: relative risk, 1.27; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.14 to 1.41) and in all subgroups defined according to the presence or absence of dementia or nursing home residency. The greatest increases in risk occurred soon after therapy was initiated and with higher dosages of conventional antipsychotic medications. Increased risks associated with conventional as compared with atypical antipsychotic medications persisted in confirmatory analyses performed with the use of propensity-score adjustment and instrumental-variable estimation. CONCLUSIONS: If confirmed, these results suggest that conventional antipsychotic medications are at least as likely as atypical agents to increase the risk of death among elderly persons and that conventional drugs should not be used to replace atypical agents discontinued in response to the FDA warning.

Understanding mental health treatment in persons without mental diagnoses: results from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication.

CONTEXT: Epidemiologic surveys have consistently found that approximately half of respondents who obtained treatment for mental or substance use disorders in the year before interview did not meet the criteria for any of the disorders assessed in the survey. Concerns have been raised that this pattern might represent evidence of misallocation of treatment resources. OBJECTIVE: To examine patterns and correlates of 12-month treatment of mental health or substance use problems among people who do not have a 12-month DSM-IV disorder. DESIGN AND SETTING: Data are from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication, a nationally representative face-to-face US household survey performed between February 5, 2001, and April 7, 2003, that assessed DSM-IV disorders using a fully structured diagnostic interview, the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). PARTICIPANTS: A total of 5692 English-speaking respondents 18 years and older. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patterns of 12-month service use among respondents without any 12-month DSM-IV CIDI disorders. RESULTS: Of respondents who used 12-month services, 61.2% had a 12-month DSM-IV CIDI diagnosis, 21.1% had a lifetime but not a 12-month diagnosis, and 9.7% had some other indicator of possible need for treatment (subthreshold 12-month disorder, serious 12-month stressor, or lifetime hospitalization). The remaining 8.0% of service users accounted for only 5.6% of all services and even lower proportions of specialty (1.9%-2.4%) and general medical (3.7%) visits compared with higher proportions of human services (18.9%) and complementary and alternative medicine (7.6%) visits. Only 26.5% of the services provided to the 8.0% of presumably low-need patients were delivered in the mental health specialty or general medical sectors. CONCLUSIONS: Most services provided for emotional or substance use problems in the United States go to people with a 12-month diagnosis or other indicators of need. Patients who lack these indicators of need receive care largely outside the formal health care system.

The impact of cost sharing on antidepressant use among older adults in British Columbia.

OBJECTIVE: Antidepressant therapies are underused among older adults and could be further curtailed by patient cost-sharing requirements. The authors studied the effects of two sequential cost-sharing policies in a large, stable population of all British Columbia seniors: change from full prescription coverage to 10-25 dollars copayments (copay) in January 2002 and replacement with income-based deductibles and 25% coinsurance in May 2003. METHODS: PharmaNet data were used to calculate monthly dispensing of antidepressants (in imipramine-equivalent milligrams) among all British Columbia residents age 65 and older beginning January 1997 through December 2005. Monthly rates of starting and stopping antidepressants were calculated. Population-level patterns over time were plotted, and the effects of implementing cost-sharing policies on antidepressant use, initiation, and stopping were examined in segmented linear regression models. RESULTS: Implementation of the copay policy was not associated with significant changes in level of antidepressant dispensing or the rate of dispensing growth. Subsequent implementation of the income-based deductible policy also did not lead to a significant change in dispensing level but led to a significant (p=.02) decrease in the rate of growth of antidepressant dispensing. The copay policy was associated with a significant (p=.01) drop in the frequency of antidepressant initiation among persons with depression. Income-based deductibles reduced the rate of increase in antidepressant initiation over time. Implementation of the copay and income-based deductible policies did not have significant effects on stopping rates. CONCLUSIONS: Introducing new forms of medication cost sharing appears to have the potential to reduce some use and initiation of antidepressant therapy by seniors. The clinical consequences of such reduced use need to be clarified.

Delay of first treatment of mental and substance use disorders in Mexico.

OBJECTIVES: We studied failure and delay in making initial treatment contact after the first onset of a mental or substance use disorder in Mexico as a first step to understanding barriers to providing effective treatment in Mexico. METHODS: Data were from the Mexican National Comorbidity Survey (2001-2002), a representative, face-to-face household survey of urban residents aged 18 to 65 years. The age of onset for disorders was compared with the age of first professional treatment contact for each lifetime disorder (as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition). RESULTS: Many people with lifetime disorders eventually made treatment contact, although the proportions varied for mood (69.9%), anxiety (53.2%), and substance use (22.1%) disorders. Delays were long: 10 years for substance use disorders, 14 years for mood disorders, and 30 years for anxiety disorders. Failure and delay in making initial treatment contact were associated with earlier ages of disorder onset and being in older cohorts. CONCLUSIONS: Failure to make prompt initial treatment contact is an important reason explaining why there are unmet needs for mental health care in Mexico. Meeting these needs will likely require expansion and optimal allocation of resources as well as other interventions.

The costs and benefits of enhanced depression care to employers.

CONTEXT: Although outreach and enhanced treatment interventions improve depression outcomes, uptake has been poor in part because purchasers lack information on their return on investment. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the costs and benefits of enhanced depression care for workers from the societal and employer-purchaser perspectives. DESIGN: Cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses using state-transition Markov models. Simulated movements between health states were based on probabilities drawn from the clinical literature. PARTICIPANTS: Hypothetical cohort of 40-year-old workers. Intervention Enhanced depression care consisting of a depression screen and care management for those depressed vs usual care. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Our base-case cost-effectiveness analysis was from the societal perspective; costs and quality-adjusted life-years were used to compute the incremental cost-effectiveness of the intervention relative to usual care. A secondary cost-benefit analysis from the employer's perspective tracked monetary costs and monetary benefits accruing to employers during a 5-year time horizon. RESULTS: From the societal perspective, screening and depression care management for workers result in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of $19 976 per quality-adjusted life-year relative to usual care. These results are consistent with recent primary care effectiveness trials and within the range for medical interventions usually covered by employer-sponsored insurance. From the employer's perspective, enhanced depression care yields a net cumulative benefit of $2895 after 5 years. In 1-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses, these findings were robust to a variety of assumptions. CONCLUSION: If these results can be replicated in effectiveness trials directly assessing effects on work outcomes, they suggest that enhanced treatment quality programs for depression are cost-beneficial to purchasers.

Risk of death associated with the use of conventional versus atypical antipsychotic drugs among elderly patients.

BACKGROUND: Public health advisories have warned that the use of atypical antipsychotic medications increases the risk of death among elderly patients. We assessed the short-term mortality in a population-based cohort of elderly people in British Columbia who were prescribed conventional and atypical antipsychotic medications. METHODS: We used linked health care utilization data of all BC residents to identify a cohort of people aged 65 years and older who began taking antipsychotic medications between January 1996 and December 2004 and were free of cancer. We compared the 180-day all-cause mortality between residents taking conventional antipsychotic medications and those taking atypical antipsychotic medications. RESULTS: Of 37 241 elderly people in the study cohort, 12 882 were prescribed a conventional antipsychotic medication and 24 359 an atypical formulation. Within the first 180 days of use, 1822 patients (14.1%) in the conventional drug group died, compared with 2337 (9.6%) in the atypical drug group (mortality ratio 1.47, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.39-1.56). Multivariable adjustment resulted in a 180-day mortality ratio of 1.32 (1.23-1.42). In comparison with risperidone, haloperidol was associated with the greatest increase in mortality (mortality ratio 2.14, 95% CI 1.86-2.45) and loxapine the lowest (mortality ratio 1.29, 95% CI 1.19-1.40). The greatest increase in mortality occurred among people taking higher (above median) doses of conventional antipsychotic medications (mortality ratio 1.67, 95% CI 1.50-1.86) and during the first 40 days after the start of drug therapy (mortality ratio 1.60, 95% CI 1.42-1.80). Results were confirmed in propensity score analyses and instrumental variable estimation, minimizing residual confounding. INTERPRETATION: Among elderly patients, the risk of death associated with conventional antipsychotic medications is comparable to and possibly greater than the risk of death associated with atypical antipsychotic medications. Until further evidence is available, physicians should consider all antipsychotic medications to be equally risky in elderly patients.

Restrictions on antidepressant medications for children: a review of Medicaid policy.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated Medicaid's prior-authorization policies restricting the prescribing of antidepressant medications for children. METHODS: Medicaid program prior-authorization policies for antidepressant medications were obtained for all available states. All criteria needed for authorization were recorded, with a focus on policies that applied specifically to children. RESULTS: Data from 49 states and the District of Columbia revealed that 30 states (60%) required prior authorization for antidepressants, of which eight (27%) made specific provisions for children. These provisions varied across states. In most states fluoxetine could be prescribed for children with minimal restrictions, and two states had prior-authorization policies that strongly encouraged pediatric patients to use fluoxetine. State policies regarding other selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors varied widely. CONCLUSIONS: Although relatively few states included provisions for children in prior-authorization requirements for antidepressants, in states that did, the policies implemented varied widely. These findings raise important questions about the rational development of prescription drug reimbursement policy.

Do Canada and the United States differ in prevalence of depression and utilization of services?

OBJECTIVE: This study compared the prevalence of depression and the determinants of mental health service use in Canada and the United States. METHODS: The study used data from preliminary analyses of the 2003 Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health, which measured Canadian (N=3,505) and United States (N=5,183) resident ratings of health and health care services. Cross-national comparisons were made for the 12-month prevalence of DSM-IV major depression, 12-month service use for mental health reasons according to the type of professional seen, and determinants of service use. RESULTS: The rates of depression were similar in Canada (8.2%) and the United States (8.7%). However, U.S. respondents without medical insurance were twice as likely as Canadian respondents and U.S. respondents with medical insurance to meet the criteria for depression. Rates of mental health service use did not differ between Canada (10.1%) and the United States (10.6%). In the United States, medical insurance was not a determinant factor of service use. However, U.S. respondents with no medical insurance were more likely than the other two groups to report an unmet need. Also, among those with depression, U.S. respondents with no medical insurance were less likely to use any type of mental health service (36.5%) than U.S. respondents with medical insurance (55.7%) and Canadians (55.7%). Further, a positive correlation between a mental health need and service use was observed in Canada but not for those without medical insurance in the United States. CONCLUSIONS: There was no difference in the prevalence of depression and mental health service use between Canada and the United States. Among those with depression, however, disparities in treatment seeking were found to be associated with medical insurance in the United States. Both Canada and the United States need to improve access to health services for those with mental disorders, and special attention is needed for those without medical insurance in the United States.

Mental health service use among hurricane Katrina survivors in the eight months after the disaster.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined use of mental health services among adult survivors of Hurricane Katrina in order to improve understanding of the impact of disasters on persons with mental disorders. METHODS: A geographically representative telephone survey was conducted between January 19 and March 31, 2006, with 1,043 displaced and nondisplaced English-speaking Katrina survivors aged 18 and older. Survivors who reported serious and mild-moderate mood and anxiety disorders in the past 30 days and those with no such disorders were identified by using the K6 scale of nonspecific psychological distress. Use of services, system sectors, and treatments and reasons for not seeking treatment or dropping out were recorded. Correlates of using services and dropping out were examined. RESULTS: An estimated 31% of respondents (N=319) had evidence of a mood or anxiety disorder at the time of the interview. Among these only 32% had used any mental health services since the disaster, including 46% of those with serious disorders. Of those who used services, 60% had stopped using them. The general medical sector and pharmacotherapy were most commonly used, although the mental health specialty sector and psychotherapy played important roles, especially for respondents with serious disorders. Many treatments were of low intensity and frequency. Undertreatment was greatest among respondents who were younger, older, never married, members of racial or ethnic minority groups, uninsured, and of moderate means. Structural, financial, and attitudinal barriers were frequent reasons for not obtaining care. CONCLUSIONS: Few Katrina survivors with mental disorders received adequate care; future disaster responses will require timely provision of services to address the barriers faced by survivors.