Intoxication and psychiatric issues common in teen emergencies
Hospital emergencies involving children aged 14-15 show a “high frequency” of intoxication and psychiatric issues, including intentional overdoses and deliberate self-harm, a new study shows.
Paediatricians at University Hospital Limerick looked at presentations to the emergency department during 2017.
They examined a total of 1,363 presentations of patients aged 14-15 years and found that trauma — such as limb and head injury — was the most common reason for attending, accounting for 45% of all cases.
However, the team of paediatricians said there was a “high frequency in the number of mental health/ intoxication/self-harm presentations”. There were 51 psychiatric cases and a further 39 presentations involving either intentional overdose or intoxication.
A breakdown of the psychiatric presentations shows 18 cases of deliberate self-harm (DSH) and 11 incidents of suicidal ideation.
In addition, there were 10 cases of mood disorder, four cases involving anxiety, two of acute psychosis, and six section 12 cases, where gardaí can remove a child from the care of their parents if they deem there is an immediate and serious risk to the health or welfare of the child.
A breakdown of toxicology presentations shows that there were 21 cases of intentional overdose and 18 incidents of intoxication.
The authors said: “In keeping with international literature on the subject, our results show a high frequency of psychiatric presentations in this subpopulation of Irish teenagers [fifth-most common presentation].
“It is worth noting that our psychiatric colleagues also assessed many patients presenting with intoxication/toxicology.
“These findings also highlight the varied psychiatric presentations that patients of the subpopulation commonly present with, including, among others, intoxication, DSH/suicidal ideation and intentional overdose.”
The authors said that the high frequency of presentations would likely have a significant impact for paediatricians in the coming years. The incidence of psychiatric presentations is rising nationally in all age groups and not just in the age group in this study, they added.
“Unfortunately, the new demand has not yet been met with increasing numbers of psychiatrists nationwide,” said the authors of the report.
The research is published in the Irish Journal of Medical Science and made publicly available through the Health Research Board.
