Am J Psychiatry 1996; 153:1489-1491
Copyright © 1996 by American Psychiatric Association
The burden of conditions not attributable to mental disorders
CM Siddique, TD Aubry and D Mulhall
Mental Health Division, Valley Health Services Association, Kentville, N.S., Canada.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to extend previous findings on the
relationship of V code conditions to use of psychiatric services and
treatment outcome. METHOD: The group under study involved 2,542 outpatients
from three community mental health centers in Nova Scotia, Canada. From
this group, three subgroups of patients were compared: 1) patients with V
code conditions, 2) patients with DSM-III-R mental disorders, and 3)
patients with both V code conditions and mental disorders. RESULTS: The
majority of patients (61.8%) were diagnosed with V code conditions, and a
substantial minority (19.6%) had V code conditions as the sole diagnoses.
Patients with V code conditions without mental disorders were similar to
patients with mental disorders in consumption of treatment resources and
treatment outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Strategies for improving the efficiency of
mental health services to patients with V code conditions need to be
developed.
