Profile of paediatric mental health presentations to Australian emergency departments in 2018.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Paediatric mental health presentations to emergency departments (EDs) are rising. Rural/Regional mental health service users face structural barriers to accessing general and specialist treatment, including physical distance and local service capacity and funding constraints. However, differences in patient characteristics and treatment pathways between major city and rural/regional EDs remain unclear. This study aimed to compare demographic and clinical profiles of paediatric mental health patients within each location.

Methods

Retrospective cohort study of paediatric (aged 0-17 years) mental health presentations at 23 Australian EDs (metropolitan=18, rural/regional=five) from 1 January to 31 December 2018. At each site, up to 100 randomly selected unique patient

SUBMITTER: Newberry-Dupe J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12573317 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature