Background
Comprehensive, timely, and integrated primary care services have been proposed as a response to the increased demand for mental health and substance use services especially among young people. However, little is known about the care utilization patterns of young people with mental and substance use disorders. Our aim was to characterize profiles of care use in young Finnish adults with mental or substance use disorders, and the potential factors associated with the service use profiles.
Methods
Primary and specialized care visits of young adults (16–29 years) diagnosed with a psychiatric or a substance use disorder (n = 7714) were retrieved from the national health care register from years 2020 and 2021. K-Means clustering was used to detect different profiles based on the utilization of care services. Multinomial logistic regression was used to analyze the factors associated with different profiles of care use.
Results
Five different profiles were identified: low care use (75%), and use of principally primary health care (11%), student health services (9%), psychiatric services (5%), or substance use services (1%). Female gender was associated with membership in the primary health care focused profiles (OR 2.58 and OR 1.99), and patients in the primary health care and student health services profiles were associated with a better continuity of care (OR 1.04 and OR 1.05). Substance use disorders were associated with psychiatric service use (OR: 2.51) and substance use services (OR: 58.91). Living in smaller municipalities was associated with lower service use when comparing to the largest city.
Conclusions
Young adults diagnosed with a psychiatric or a substance use disorder had remarkably different and heterogeneous care patterns. Most of the participants had low care utilization, indicating potential gaps in service use and care needs. Measures should be taken to ensure equal access to and availability of mental health services. The profiles that utilized the most services highlights the importance of integrated services and patient-oriented improvement of treatment.
