University of Louisville School of Medicine Reports Findings in Anxiety Disorders (Prevalence and Treatment Utilization of Patients Diagnosed with Depression and Anxiety Disorders Based on Kentucky Medicaid 2012-2019 Datasets): Mental Health Diseases and Conditions – Anxiety Disorders

Insurance Daily News

2023 AUG 29 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Mental Health Diseases and Conditions - Anxiety Disorders is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating from Louisville, Kentucky, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “To examine the prevalence and treatment utilization of patients diagnosed with Depression and Anxiety Disorders (DAD) based on Kentucky Medicaid 2012-2019 datasets. The study was based on Kentucky Medicaid claims data from 2012 through 2019 for patients 14 years and older.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the University of Louisville School of Medicine, “We constructed yearly patient-level databases using ICD_9 CM and ICD_10 CM codes to identify the patients with DAD, using the Current Procedure Terminology (CPT) codes to identify individual psychotherapy and group psychotherapy and using the National drug codes to categorize pharmacotherapy. Based on these data, we constructed summary tables that reflected the trends in prevalence of DAD across eight Kentucky Medicaid regions and for different demographic subgroups. Next, we implemented logistic regression on the constructed yearly patient-level data to formally assess the impact of risk factors and treatments on the prevalence of DAD. The potential risk factors included age, gender, race/ethnicity, geographic characteristics, comorbidities such as alcohol use disorder and tobacco use. The prevalence of DAD increased from 30.84% in 2012 to 36.04% in 2019. The prevalence of DAD was significantly higher in patients with the following characteristics: non-Hispanic white, females, aged between 45 and 54 years old, living in rural areas, having alcohol use disorder, and using tobaccos. Other than 2013, the utilization of pharmacotherapy maintained at about 62%. The utilization of psychotherapy increased over years from 24.4% in 2012 to 36.5% in 2019. Overall, the utilization of any treatment slightly increased from 70.9% in 2012 to 73.3% in 2019 except a drastic decline in 2013 due to the reduction of benzodiazepine prescription. Patients being whites, females, and living in rural areas were more likely to use pharmacotherapy, and patients living in rural areas were less likely to use psychotherapy than those residing in urban areas. The prevalence of DAD has increased over time from 2012 to 2019.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The utilization of pharmacotherapy maintained at 62% over eight years except 2013, and the utilization of psychotherapy has steadily increased over time.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Prevalence and Treatment Utilization of Patients Diagnosed with Depression and Anxiety Disorders Based on Kentucky Medicaid 2012-2019 Datasets. Journal of Depression & Anxiety, 2022;11(5).

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Haojiang Huang, Dept. of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY, United States. Additional authors for this research include Yuchen Han, Riten Mitra, Huirong Hu, Subhadip Pal, Craig J. McClain, K. B. Kulasekera and Maiying Kong.