Generalised anxiety disorder symptoms and utilisation of health care services. A cross-sectional study from the “Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort”

Figures & data

Table 1. Demographic characteristics of the study population.

Variable	All N (% of variable)	GAD-7 < 10 N (% of all)	GAD-7 ≥ 10 N (% of all)	p Value
Gender				0.004
Men	2353 (42.9)	2288 (43.3)	65 (32.8)
Women	3127 (57.1)	2994 (56.7)	133 (67.2)
Occupational class				<0.001
Professionals, entrepreneurs	2486 (48.5)	2411 (48.8)	75 (39.3)
Manual workers	2258 (44.0)	2176 (44.1)	82 (42.9)
Farmers	100 (2.0)	96 (1.9)	4 (2.1)
Students, pensioners, others	283 (5.5)	253 (5.1)	30 (15.7)
BMI^a				<0.001
Underweight	36 (0.7)	32 (0.6)	4 (2.0)
Normal	2154 (39.4)	2094 (39.8)	60 (30.5)
Overweight	2143 (39.2)	2072 (39.3)	71 (36.0)
Obese	1131 (20.7)	1069 (20.3)	62 (31.5)
Current smoking status				<0.001
No	4094 (77.0)	3974 (77.6)	120 (61.9)
Occasional	304 (5.7)	293 (5.7)	11 (5.7)
Yes	920 (17.3)	857 (16.7)	63 (32.5)
Alcohol consumption^b				<0.001
Non-use	527 (9.9)	504 (9.9)	23 (12.0)
Light use	4293 (80.9)	4169 (81.5)	124 (64.9)
Moderate use	236 (4.4)	220 (4.3)	16 (8.4)
Heavy use	251 (4.7)	223 (4.4)	28 (14.7)
Number of somatic diseases, mean (SD)	3.0 (2.5)	3.0 (2.5)	3.9 (2.6)	<0.001
Hospital-treated mental disorder^c				<0.001
No	5105 (93.2)	4965 (94.0)	140 (70.7)
Yes	375 (6.8)	317 (6.0)	58 (29.3)

a underweight: BMI <18.5 kg/m²; normal weight: BMI 18.5–25 kg/m²; overweight: BMI 25–30 kg/m²; and obese: BMI >30 kg/m².

b light use: men <230 g/week and women <150 g/week; moderate use: men 230–350 g/week and women 150–210 g/week; heavy use: men >350 g/week and women >210 g/week.

c A lifetime treatment episode with recorded ICD-10 or ICD-9 classified diagnosis of a mental disorder (ICD-10:F10–F34, F40–F42, not F41.1; ICD-9: 291–292, 295–298, 300 (not 300.02), 303–305) in a Finnish general, mental, prison, or private hospital or inpatient ward of a local health centre.

Table 2. Health care utilisation according to results in GAD-7 questionnaire.

Type of health care utilisation	All mean (SD)	GAD-7 < 10 mean (SD)	GAD-7 ≥ 10 mean (SD)	p Value
Health care visits in total	6.0 (6.8)	5.7 (6.2)	12.1 (14.7)	<0.001
Physician visits in total	3.2 (3.7)	3.1 (3.6)	5.4 (4.7)	<0.001
Health centre visits in total	2.8 (4.6)	2.7 (4.3)	5.8 (9.4)	<0.001
Health centre physician visits	1.0 (1.8)	0.9 (1.7)	2.1 (3.0)	<0.001
Ambulatory secondary care visits	0.5 (1.5)	0.5 (1.5)	1.3 (2.5)	<0.001
Mental health visits	0.5 (3.1)	0.4 (2.3)	3.5 (10.8)	<0.001
Private physician visits	0.5 (1.3)	0.5 (1.2)	0.8 (1.7)	0.046
Dental care visits	1.6 (2.0)	1.6 (2.0)	1.7 (2.1)	0.469

Figure 1. Risk ratios for health care utilisation of men and women who tested positive for GAD compared with those who tested negative controlled for possible confounders.