BORDERLINE PERSONALITY-DISORDER AND HEALTH-CARE UTILIZATION IN A PRIMARY-CARE SETTING

We examined health care utilization by subjects with symptoms of borde rline personality disorder. The study included 194 female subjects bet ween the ages of 17 and 52 who were consecutively seen for nonemergenc y medical care in a health maintenance organization. Each subject comp leted the borderline personality scale of the Personality Diagnostic Q uestionnaire-Revised (PDQ-R), as well as the Self-Harm Inventory, whic h correlates with the diagnosis of borderline personality. For each in strument, subjects With scores suggestive of borderline personality we re compared Kith subjects without this disorder in regard to their uti lization of health care resources (eg, number of combined telephone co ntacts and physician visits, number of physicians seen, number of pres criptions obtained) during the preceding 12 months. Subjects with more severe borderline personality disorder (according to the PDQ-R) made significantly more contacts with the health care facility (ie, telepho ne calls and physician visits) and received more prescriptions.