Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government

VA Health Systems Research

Go to the VA ORD website
Go to the QUERI website

HSR Citation Abstract

Search | Search by Center | Search by Source | Keywords in Title

Mental health resource utilization and health care costs associated with race and comorbid anxiety among Medicaid enrollees with major depressive disorder.

Wu CH, Erickson SR, Piette JD, Balkrishnan R. Mental health resource utilization and health care costs associated with race and comorbid anxiety among Medicaid enrollees with major depressive disorder. Journal of the National Medical Association. 2012 Jan 1; 104(1-2):78-88.

Related HSR&D Project(s)

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.
   Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions



Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to assess the association among race, comorbid anxiety, and mental health resource utilization among Medicaid enrollees with major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional study design was used to identify adult patients with MDD newly initiating an antidepressant between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2006, from the MarketScan Multi-State Medicaid Database. Measures of mental health resource utilization included mental health-related office visits, hospitalizations, emergency department visits, and health care costs. The associations of mental health resource utilization with race and comorbid anxiety were examined respectively using multivariable logistic regression, negative binominal regression, and log-transformed linear regression models. RESULTS: A total of 3083 Medicaid enrollees with MDD were included. Approximately 25% of patients had comorbid anxiety. Caucasians were more likely to have comorbid anxiety than African Americans (30.2% vs 16.4%, p < .01). After controlling for covariates, comorbid anxiety was significantly associated with more frequent mental health resource utilization. African Americans were significantly less likely than Caucasians to have mental health-related office visits (OR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.45-0.66) but more likely to be hospitalized (OR, 2.57; 95% CI, 1.84-3.60) and to have emergency department visits (OR, 1.52; 95% CI, 1.05-2.19). CONCLUSIONS: Comorbid anxiety was positively associated with mental health resource utilization among Medicaid enrollees with MDD. Health disparities in health care utilization between African Americans and Caucasians still exist.





Questions about the HSR website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.