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Table 2 Referrals among those presenting to PMHC services by age-group, Western Sydney (Australia), 2005–2018

From: Referral patterns to primary mental health services in Western Sydney (Australia): an analysis of routinely collected data (2005–2018)

Characteristics

Age

Median (IQR)

≤ 11 N (%)

12–24 N (%)

25–34 N (%)

35–44 N (%)

45–54 N (%)

55–64 N (%)

≥ 65 N (%)

Total (data missing for 2983 referrals)

31 (16,46)

4280 (17.2)

5653 (22.7)

4122 (16.5)

4054 (16.3)

3391 (13.6)

2124 (8.5)

1290 (5.2)

Gender (data missing for 206 referrals)

 Male

26 (11,43)

2596 (61.1)

2196 (39.2)

1336 (32.7)

1439 (35.8)

1157 (34.4)

756 (35.9)

416 (32.4)

 Female

33 (19,47)

1654 (38.9)

3402 (60.8)

2750 (67.3)

2584 (64.2)

2203 (65.6)

1351 (64.1)

868 (67.6)

Socioeconomic status (IRSAD) (data missing for 1664 referrals)

 1 (Most deprived)

28 (13,44)

1119 (27.1)

1110 (21.1)

819 (21.7)

761 (20.5)

584 (18.6)

410 (20.6)

216 (17.6)

 2

33 (20,47)

287 (6.9)

372 (7.1)

393 (10.4)

345 (9.3)

303 (9.6)

219 (11.0)

75 (6.1)

 3

29 (14,44)

964 (23.3)

1187 (22.5)

794 (21.0)

762 (20.5)

586 (18.6)

369 (18.5)

279 (22.7)

 4

33 (18,49)

834 (20.2)

1217 (23.1)

900 (23.8)

940 (25.3)

819 (26.1)

596 (29.9)

352 (28.7)

 5 least deprived

30 (16,46)

926 (22.4)

1385 (26.3)

870 (23.0)

901 (24.3)

851 (27.1)

400 (20.1)

305 (24.9)

Diagnosis (data missing for 2589 referrals)

 Anxiety and affective disorders

36 (24,49)

340 (9.2)

1849 (35.5)

1671 (45.2)

1575 (43.4)

1375 (46.0)

854 (45.4)

496 (41.3)

 Affective (mood) disorders

36 (22,50)

325 (8.7)

1190 (22.8)

941 (25.4)

972 (26.8)

853 (28.6)

587 (31.2)

396 (32.9)

 Anxiety disorders

17 (10,37)

1471 (39.6)

1228 (23.6)

500 (13.5)

466 (12.8)

329 (11.0)

241 (12.8)

206 (17.1)

 Substance use disorders

36 (27,45)

19 (0.5)

177 (3.4)

233 (6.3)

267 (7.4)

168 (5.6)

71 (3.8)

27 (2.2)

 Other

13 (8,33)

1560 (42.0)

764 (14.7)

355 (9.6)

351 (9.7)

261 (8.7)

130 (6.9)

77 (6.4)

Referrer type (data missing for 1434 referrals)

 N/A—Self referral

39 (31,49)

3 (0.1)

46 (0.8)

91 (2.4)

123 (3.3)

97 (3.2)

34 (1.8)

15 (1.2)

 Paediatrician

8 (6,10)

419 (9.8)

93 (1.7)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

 Allied mental health professionals

12 (9,26)

442 (10.4)

211 (3.9)

81 (2.1)

53 (1.4)

50 (1.6)

35 (1.8)

13 (1.1)

 Psychiatrist

34 (18,46)

7 (0.2)

24 (0.4)

19 (0.5)

16 (0.4)

19 (0.6)

9 (0.5)

1 (0.1)

 General practitioner

31 (16,46)

3302 (77.4)

4963 (90.7)

3514 (92.5)

3464 (92.7)

2841 (92.7)

1803 (94.3)

1153 (93.4)

 Other

29 (15,45)

92 (2.2)

133 (2.4)

93 (2.4)

81 (2.2)

58 (1.9)

30 (1.6)

52 (4.2)

Principal focus of the treatment (data missing for 59 referrals)

 Low intensity intervention

41 (29,53)

27 (0.6)

143 (2.5)

245 (6.0)

262 (6.5)

240 (7.1)

136 (6.4)

91 (7.1)

 Child and youth–specific

9 (7,12)

2738 (64.0)

1031 (18.2)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

 Psychological therapy

35 (21,49)

1466 (34.3)

3842 (68.0)

3049 (74.3)

3179 (78.9)

2706 (79.9)

1756 (82.8)

1113 (86.5)

 Other

33 (25,45)

45 (1.1)

637 (11.3)

811 (19.8)

587 (14.6)

439 (13)

230 (10.8)

82 (6.4)

Suicide referral status (data missing for 1236 referrals)a

 Yes

33 (22,46)

36 (0.9)

721 (13.3)

556 (14.6)

452 (12.2)

399 (13.0)

198 (10.4)

75 (6.2)

 No

30 (14,45)

4148 (99.1)

4703 (86.7)

3258 (85.4)

3260 (87.8)

2669 (87.0)

1699 (89.6)

1137 (93.8)

Any mental health medication used (data missing for 3566 referrals)

 Yes

39 (26,51)

282 (7.3)

1377 (27.5)

1520 (43.9)

1593 (47.5)

1505 (53.3)

945 (55.1)

555 (50.3)

 No

22 (11,40)

3590 (92.7)

3637 (72.5)

1944 (56.1)

1763 (52.5)

1318 (46.7)

770 (44.9)

549 (49.7)

Referrals resulted in services (157 referrals in the waiting list)

 Yes

32 (16,47)

3316 (77.8)

4241 (75.7)

3148 (76.7)

3206 (79.6)

2818 (83.6)

1811 (85.8)

1099 (86.0)

 No

27 (14,41)

948 (22.2)

1363 (24.3)

955 (23.3)

823 (20.4)

551 (16.4)

299 (14.2)

179 (14.0)

Treatment no–show

 Yes

NA

219 (1.1)

495 (1.8)

371 (1.8)

320 (1.4)

258 (1.3)

135 (1.0)

79 (1.0)

 No

NA

19,739 (98.9)

26,963 (98.2)

20,052 (98.2)

21,938 (98.6)

19,739 (98.7)

13,569 (99.0)

7610 (99.0)

Waiting time (data missing for 105 referrals)b

within 7 days

35 (21,49)

611 (18.6)

1433 (34.0)

1266 (40.4)

1215 (38.1)

1122 (39.9)

706 (39.1)

388 (35.5)

 1 week–1 month

31 (15,47)

1580 (48.0)

1816 (43.1)

1259 (40.2)

1336 (41.9)

1114 (39.7)

745 (41.3)

495 (45.2)

 1–3 month

26 (12,45)

882 (26.8)

793 (18.8)

489 (15.6)

474 (14.9)

460 (16.4)

284 (15.7)

164 (15.0)

 3–6 month

29 (12,44)

159 (4.8)

131 (3.1)

84 (2.7)

116 (3.6)

78 (2.8)

50 (2.8)

33 (3.0)

 > 6 month

31 (12,46)

60 (1.8)

37 (0.9)

37 (1.2)

48 (1.5)

35 (1.2)

20 (1.1)

14 (1.3)

Mode of contact (data missing for 9324 sessions)c

 Face to face

NA

18,357 (99.0)

23,862 (96.3)

17,155 (93.8)

18,992 (94.5)

17,110 (93.9)

12,300 (94.5)

7217 (97.8)

 Telephone

NA

165 (0.9)

650 (2.6)

920 (5.0)

937 (4.7)

927 (5.1)

594 (4.6)

148 (2.0)

 Internet–based

NA

12 (0.1)

254 (1.0)

208 (1.1)

151 (0.8)

166 (0.9)

118 (0.9)

15 (0.2)

 Video

NA

0 (0)

1 (0)

7 (0)

9 (0)

10 (0.1)

1 (0)

0 (0)

 Session per referrald

NA

6 (3,7)

6 (3,8)

6 (3,8)

6 (3,9)

6 (3,10)

6 (3,11)

6 (3,9)

  1. aSince this service was added in 2008, denominator was considered as total referrals from 2008 to 2018; bReferrals not resulted in services excluded from the denominator; cnumber of sessions were used as the denominator; dReferrals did not finish treatments were not included in the calculation; Amount of missing excluded from the denominator when calculating percentages