Prevalence of Mental Health Service Utilizations among Asians with DSM-IV Mental Disorders in the United States

Backgrounds: Previous studies reported that Asians have a low rate of mental health service use compared to the general population. We examined the prevalence and odds of mental health service utilization among Asians with lifetime DSM-IV mood, anxiety, alcohol, and drug use disorders compared to other racial/ethnic groups with similar disorders. Methods: Between 2001 and 2002, 43,093 non-institutionalized residents were assessed in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) study. We examined diagnosis-specific variation in lifetime prevalence of DSM-IV psychiatric disorders and mental health service utilization among Asians as compared to Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics. Results: Asians with lifetime mood disorders had significantly lower mental health service utilization compared to other racial/ethnic groups (Asians vs. Whites: OR=0.28, 95%C.I. 0.18-0.43, Asians vs. Hispanics: OR=0.48, 95%C.I. 0.30-0.76, Asians vs. Native Americans: OR=0.27, 95%C.I. 0.15-0.48) but the difference was not statistically significant compared to Blacks. There was no statistically significant racial/ethnic difference in lifetime health service utilization for alcohol and drug disorders. Results of past-12 month mental health service utilization comparing Asians to other racial/ethnic groups were similar in direction but were not meaningful due to small sample size. Discussion/Conclusions: Our findings underscore the need for psychosocial education and community outreach that especially targets Asians with mood disorders. Asians with lifetime mood disorders underutilized mental health services even after adjusting for socioeconomic variables and years of residency in the U.S. Future studies on culture-specific attitudes, correlates, and barriers to mental health service utilization are warranted.