Age and sex trends among mental health-related emergency department visits in North Carolina
Whether patients present to the emergency department (ED) with physical ailments and comorbid psychiatric needs or primary psychiatric complaints, understanding differences in clinically relevant age and sex patterns over time is crucial to optimal psychiatric care in the ED setting. We used populat...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2022-11-01
|
| Series: | Healthcare Analytics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772442522000211 |
| _version_ | 1811187184046178304 |
|---|---|
| author | Danielle Brathwaite Anna E. Waller Bradley Gaynes Tracy M. Deselm Jason J. Bischof Judith Tintinalli Jane H. Brice Montika Bush |
| author_facet | Danielle Brathwaite Anna E. Waller Bradley Gaynes Tracy M. Deselm Jason J. Bischof Judith Tintinalli Jane H. Brice Montika Bush |
| author_sort | Danielle Brathwaite |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Whether patients present to the emergency department (ED) with physical ailments and comorbid psychiatric needs or primary psychiatric complaints, understanding differences in clinically relevant age and sex patterns over time is crucial to optimal psychiatric care in the ED setting. We used population-level surveillance data provided by the North Carolina Disease Event Tracking and Epidemiologic Collection Tool (NC DETECT) from January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2014. Mental health-related (MHR) ED visits were identified by International Classification of Diseases, Clinical Modification 9th revision (ICD-9-CM) codes analyzed in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) clinical classification software groupings of related diagnostic categories. Trends were assessed based on total and average annual visit counts. We identified approximately 4 million MHR ED visits. The average number of visits per year was highest among 50-year-olds, while patients over the age of 90 had the highest proportion of their ED visits associated with an MHR code. Mood disorders were more prevalent among females, while substance use disorders were more prevalent among males. Within MHR categories, age-related peaks did not differ by sex except for suicide and self-inflicted injury. Whether it be a teenage boy presenting with suicidal ideation, a middle-aged man presenting with alcohol abuse, or an elderly female presenting with dementia, ED MHR visits’ needs vary across the lifespan. Understanding these trends is important to holistic patient care. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T13:59:11Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-40e6e30392b146958a370a3c877f103e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2772-4425 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T13:59:11Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Healthcare Analytics |
| spelling | doaj.art-40e6e30392b146958a370a3c877f103e2022-12-22T04:20:11ZengElsevierHealthcare Analytics2772-44252022-11-012100056Age and sex trends among mental health-related emergency department visits in North CarolinaDanielle Brathwaite0Anna E. Waller1Bradley Gaynes2Tracy M. Deselm3Jason J. Bischof4Judith Tintinalli5Jane H. Brice6Montika Bush7University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Health Policy and Management, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America; Correspondence to: Department of Health Policy and Management, 1101 McGavran-Greenberg, Campus Box #7411, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of America.University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine & Carolina Center for Health Informatics, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of AmericaUniversity of North Carolina School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of AmericaUniversity of North Carolina School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of AmericaThe Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Department of Emergency Medicine, Columbus, OH, United States of AmericaUniversity of North Carolina School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of AmericaUniversity of North Carolina School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of AmericaUniversity of North Carolina School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC, United States of AmericaWhether patients present to the emergency department (ED) with physical ailments and comorbid psychiatric needs or primary psychiatric complaints, understanding differences in clinically relevant age and sex patterns over time is crucial to optimal psychiatric care in the ED setting. We used population-level surveillance data provided by the North Carolina Disease Event Tracking and Epidemiologic Collection Tool (NC DETECT) from January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2014. Mental health-related (MHR) ED visits were identified by International Classification of Diseases, Clinical Modification 9th revision (ICD-9-CM) codes analyzed in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) clinical classification software groupings of related diagnostic categories. Trends were assessed based on total and average annual visit counts. We identified approximately 4 million MHR ED visits. The average number of visits per year was highest among 50-year-olds, while patients over the age of 90 had the highest proportion of their ED visits associated with an MHR code. Mood disorders were more prevalent among females, while substance use disorders were more prevalent among males. Within MHR categories, age-related peaks did not differ by sex except for suicide and self-inflicted injury. Whether it be a teenage boy presenting with suicidal ideation, a middle-aged man presenting with alcohol abuse, or an elderly female presenting with dementia, ED MHR visits’ needs vary across the lifespan. Understanding these trends is important to holistic patient care.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772442522000211Emergency departmentEmergency servicesBehavioral healthMental healthSyndromic surveillance |
| spellingShingle | Danielle Brathwaite Anna E. Waller Bradley Gaynes Tracy M. Deselm Jason J. Bischof Judith Tintinalli Jane H. Brice Montika Bush Age and sex trends among mental health-related emergency department visits in North Carolina Healthcare Analytics Emergency department Emergency services Behavioral health Mental health Syndromic surveillance |
| title | Age and sex trends among mental health-related emergency department visits in North Carolina |
| title_full | Age and sex trends among mental health-related emergency department visits in North Carolina |
| title_fullStr | Age and sex trends among mental health-related emergency department visits in North Carolina |
| title_full_unstemmed | Age and sex trends among mental health-related emergency department visits in North Carolina |
| title_short | Age and sex trends among mental health-related emergency department visits in North Carolina |
| title_sort | age and sex trends among mental health related emergency department visits in north carolina |
| topic | Emergency department Emergency services Behavioral health Mental health Syndromic surveillance |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772442522000211 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT daniellebrathwaite ageandsextrendsamongmentalhealthrelatedemergencydepartmentvisitsinnorthcarolina AT annaewaller ageandsextrendsamongmentalhealthrelatedemergencydepartmentvisitsinnorthcarolina AT bradleygaynes ageandsextrendsamongmentalhealthrelatedemergencydepartmentvisitsinnorthcarolina AT tracymdeselm ageandsextrendsamongmentalhealthrelatedemergencydepartmentvisitsinnorthcarolina AT jasonjbischof ageandsextrendsamongmentalhealthrelatedemergencydepartmentvisitsinnorthcarolina AT judithtintinalli ageandsextrendsamongmentalhealthrelatedemergencydepartmentvisitsinnorthcarolina AT janehbrice ageandsextrendsamongmentalhealthrelatedemergencydepartmentvisitsinnorthcarolina AT montikabush ageandsextrendsamongmentalhealthrelatedemergencydepartmentvisitsinnorthcarolina |