Objective: To analyse the utilization of health care services of people who tested positive for GAD compared to those who tested negative.
Setting: A cross-sectional study from the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort.
Subjects: A total of 10,282 members followed from birth in a longitudinal study were asked to participate in a follow-up survey at the age of 46. As part of this survey they filled in questionnaries concerning health care utilization and their illness history as well as the GAD-7 screening tool. Althogether 5,480 cohort members responded to the questionnaries.
Main outcome measures: Number of visits in different health care services among people who tested positive for GAD with the GAD-7 screening tool compared to those who tested negative.
Results: People who tested positive for GAD had 112% more total health care visits, 74% more total physician visits, 115% more visits to health centres, 133% more health centre physician visits, 160% more visits to secondary care, and 775% more mental health care visits than those who tested negative.
Conclusion: People with GAD symptoms utilize health care services more than other people. Key Points Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) is a common but poorly identified mental health problem in primary care. People who tested positive for GAD utilise more health care services than those who tested negative. About 58% of people who tested positive for GAD had visited their primary care physician during the past year. Only 29% of people who tested positive for GAD had used mental health services during the past year.
Keywords: Anxiety disorders; Finland; general practice; generalised anxiety disorder; health care services,; health care utilisation; psychiatric services.