文摘
BackgroundDue to the high burden attributed to mental disorders, an important purpose of a general healthcare system is to provide comprehensive medical specialist care that is both locally available and in line with demand; however, the density of outpatient physicians and psychotherapists significantly varies between regions in Germany. To verify if these variations reflect regional variations of morbidity rates, routine data of statutory health insurance companies are analyzed on a regular basis. But these administrative data directly depend on the actual regional health care supply. Hence, independent epidemiological data on prevalence rates of mental disorders could be a valuable supplement.