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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Psychopathology and emotional distress among older high-utilizing health maintenance organization patients | | Author(s) | Leonard J Haas, David C Spendlove, Michael P Silver |
| Journal title | The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological sciences and Medical Sciences, vol 54A, no 11, November 1999 |
| Pages | pp M577-582 |
| Keywords | Behaviour disorders ; Stress ; Health services ; Usage [services] ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | Rates of psychopathology are often underestimated in primary care populations, especially older patient groups. High medication use is often a reflection of psychopathology and/or emotional distress. Increased awareness of primary care patients' emotional distress can help to improve well-being and reduce unnecessary over-use of medical service. This US study aimed to assess the degree of psychopathology present in a sample of older health maintenance organization (HMO) patients who used higher than average amounts of medical services. Patients in a large HMO aged 55+ exceeding the mean number of inpatient and outpatient visits in the previous year were recruited. 69 patients - mostly female (69%) and white (93%) - volunteered, and were assessed with the Medical Outcomes Study SF-36 health survey and the Symptoms Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). Respondents made a mean 41 visits in the previous year, versus the average over-55 patient's 24 visits. Significant elevations on SCL-90-R global psychopathology, obsessive-compulsive, somatisation, and depression scales were found. SF-36 ratings were comparable for those of patients with chronic medical conditions assessed in other SF-36 samples. This may suggest the existence of untreated psychopathology problem. |
| Accession Number | CPA-000306220 A |
| Classmark | EP: QNH: L: QLD: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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