Significant increases in outpatient mental health care limited to younger adults, employed adults
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Feb. 5, 2024 (HealthDay News) — From 2018 to 2021, there was an increase in the rate of serious psychological distress among adults, but the rate of outpatient mental health care decreased among those with serious psychological distress, according to a study published online Feb. 5 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Mark Olfson, M.D., M.P.H., from Columbia University in New York City, and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional nationally representative survey of noninstitutionalized adults to characterize trends in psychological distress and outpatient mental health care. The study comprised 86,658 adults included in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Household Component from 2018 to 2021.
The researchers found that the rate of serious psychological distress increased from 3.5 to 4.2 percent among adults between 2018 and 2021. The rate of outpatient mental health care increased from 11.2 to 12.4 percent overall; however, among adults with serious psychological distress, there was a decrease in the rate, from 46.5 to 40.4 percent. A significant increase in outpatient mental health care was seen for younger adults (aged 18 to 44 years), but not middle-aged or older adults (aged 45 to 64 and >65 years), and for employed but not unemployed adults, after controlling for age, sex, and distress. Of mental health outpatients, 33.4 percent received at least one video visit in 2021, including a disproportionate percentage of young, college-educated, higher-income, employed, and urban adults.
“These trends underscore a public health need to broaden outpatient mental health care access to more distressed, older, and unemployed adults,” the authors write.
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