Estimating the prevalence of alcohol-related disorders and treatment utilization in Bremen 2016/2017 through routine data linkage

Mental disorders are highly prevalent and cause considerable suffering and disease burden. To compound this public health problem, many individuals with psychiatric disorders remain untreated although effective treatments exist. We examine the extent of this treatment gap. We reviewed community-based psychiatric epidemiology studies that used standardized diagnostic instruments and included data on the percentage of individuals receiving care for schizophrenia and other non-affective psychotic disorders, major depression, dysthymia, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and alcohol abuse or dependence. The median rates of untreated cases of these disorders were calculated across the studies. Examples of the estimation of the treatment gap for WHO regions are also presented. Thirty-seven studies had information on service utilization. The median treatment gap for schizophrenia, including other non-affective psychosis, was 32.2%. For other disorders the gap was: depression, 56.3%; dysthymia, 56.0%; bipolar disorder, 50.2%; panic disorder, 55.9%; GAD, 57.5%; and OCD, 57.3%. Alcohol abuse and dependence had the widest treatment gap at 78.1%. The treatment gap for mental disorders is universally large, though it varies across regions. It is likely that the gap reported here is an underestimate due to the unavailability of community-based data from developing countries where services are scarcer. To address this major public health challenge, WHO has adopted in 2002 a global action programme that has been endorsed by the Member States.

Background Alcohol use disorders are among the mental disorders with the lowest treatment rates. Increasing the treatment rates requires insight on the reasons why patients do not seek treatment. This study examined self-reported reasons for not seeking treatment and their association with alcohol use disorder severity among primary health care patients diagnosed with an alcohol use disorder. Methods Alcohol use disorders, health service utilization, and reasons for not seeking treatment were assessed via interviews on regionally representative samples of primary care patients from 6 European countries (Italy, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Spain, total N = 9,098). Additionally, general practitioners had to fill in a questionnaire assessing their patients’ alcohol use and alcohol use disorders. A multinomial logistic regression was performed to investigate the association between reasons for not seeking treatment and alcohol use disorder severity. Results Of 1,008 patients diagnosed with an alcohol use disorder (via general practitioner or patient interview) in the past 12 months, the majority (N = 810) did not receive treatment and 251 of those gave a reason for not seeking treatment. The most frequent reason was ‘lack of problem awareness’ (55.3 % of those who responded), the second most common response was ‘stigma or shame’ (28.6 %), followed by ‘encounter barriers’ (22.8 %) and ‘cope alone’ (20.9 %). The results indicated lower probabilities of reporting ‘denial’ and higher probabilities to report ‘encounter barriers’ as alcohol use disorders severity increases. However, both trends were discontinued for patients with severe alcohol use disorders. Conclusions Particularly at lower levels of alcohol use disorder severity, a lack of problem awareness prevents patients from seeking treatment. Routinely alcohol consumption monitoring in primary care practices could help primary and secondary prevention of alcohol use disorders and increase treatment coverage. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13011-015-0028-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.