Treatment adequacy of anxiety disorders among young adults in Finland
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Anxiety disorders are common in early adulthood, but general population studies concerning the treatment adequacy of anxiety disorders taking into account appropriate pharmacological and psychological treatment are scarce. The aims of this study were to examine treatments received for anxiety disorders in a Finnish general population sample of young adults, and to define factors associated with receiving minimally adequate treatment and with dropping out from treatment. METHODS: A questionnaire containing several mental health screens was sent to a nationally representative two-stage cluster sample of 1894 Finns aged 19 to 34 years. All screen positives and a random sample of screen negatives were invited to a mental health assessment including a SCID interview. For the final diagnostic assessment, case records from mental health treatments for the same sample were obtained. This article investigates treatment received, treatment adequacy and dropouts from treatment of 79 participants with a lifetime anxiety disorder (excluding those with a single specific phobia). Based on all available information, receiving antidepressant or buspirone medication for at least 2 months with at least four visits with any type of physician or at least eight sessions of psychotherapy within 12 months or at least 4 days of hospitalization were regarded as minimally adequate treatment for anxiety disorders. Treatment dropout was rated if the patient discontinued the visits by his own decision despite having an adequate treatment strategy according to the case records. RESULTS: Of participants with anxiety disorders (excluding those with a single specific phobia), 41.8 % had received minimally adequate treatment. In the multivariate analysis, comorbid substance use disorder was associated with antidepressant or buspirone medication lasting at least 2 months. Those who were currently married or cohabiting had lower odds of having at least four visits with a physician a year. None of these factors were associated with the final outcome of minimally adequate treatment or treatment dropout. Participants with comorbid personality disorders received and misused benzodiazepines more often than others. CONCLUSIONS: More efforts are needed to provide adequate treatment for young adults with anxiety disorders. Attention should be paid to benzodiazepine prescribing to individuals with personality disorders.
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Less than 15% of people with diagnosed anxiety receive treatment conforming to evidence-based recommendations.
“Importantly, the proportion of patients with anxiety disorders who receive adequate treatment is still much lower (Roberge et al., 2015; Kasteenpohja et al., 2016), even in the US, with less than 15% of people with diagnosed anxiety receiving treatment which conforms with evidence-based recommendations (Roberge et al., 2015; Kasteenpohja et al., 2016).”
From Treatment gap for anxiety disorders is global: Results of the World Mental Health Surveys in 21 countries (2018) · cites this paper as Kasteenpohja et al., 2016
The Discussion (page unavailable) reports that about 14% of all participants with anxiety disorders in the earlier NCS-R survey received minimally adequate treatment, supporting the less-than-15% figure for that survey. But the paper's own Results report 41.8% among young adults in Finland, so the figure is not a general finding of this study; the cited passage also does not explicitly identify the NCS-R survey as US-based. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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- Authors
- Kasteenpohja, T., Marttunen, M., Aalto-Setälä, T., Perälä, J., Saarni, S. I., & Suvisaari, J.
- Affiliations
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- University of Turku (FI)
- Tampere University (FI)
- Corresponding author
- Kasteenpohja, Teija
- Venue
- BMC Psychiatry
- Published
- 2016-03-15
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 63-63
- ISSN
- 1471-244X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4799592
- OpenAlex
- W2342008332
- Cited by
- 14
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 2.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- BMC Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Työväentutkimus Vuosikirja (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia (FI) (210714)
- The Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation
- The Jalmari and Rauha Ahokas Foundation
- The National Graduate School of Clinical investigation
- The Doctoral Programme in Clinical Research of the University of Helsinki
- Suomen Lääketieteen Säätiö (FI)
- The Finnish Psychiatric Association
- The pharmaceutical company H. Lundbeck A/S
- Emil Aaltosen Säätiö (FI)
- Päivikki ja Sakari Sohlbergin Säätiö (FI)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Disorders
- Keywords
- anxiety disorders, young adults, treatment adequacy, treatment discontinuation, antidepressants, buspirone, benzodiazepines, substance use comorbidity, personality disorders, psychotherapy, physician visits, marital status, Finland
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Antidepressive Agents, Anxiety Disorders, Buspirone, Female, Finland, Hospitalization, Humans, Male, Patient Dropouts, Psychotherapy, Surveys and Questionnaires, Anti-Anxiety Agents, Treatment Outcome, Young Adult
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