Youth Later Diagnosed With Psychotic Disorders May Show Up in Acute Care Settings First

Most people receiving a first diagnosis of a psychotic disorder have had some indication of mental health problem in the previous year. Astudy published today inAJP in Advance suggests that as many as two-thirds of adolescents and young adults who are diagnosed with psychotic disorder may have sought mental health care during the year prior to diagnosis.While similar patterns of health care use were seen in patients who were later diagnosed with unipolar depression, the authors did find that people who would go on to develop a psychotic disorder received specialty mental health services in inpatient and emergency department settings more frequently. Gregory Simon, M.D., M.P.H., of Kaiser Permanente Washington Research Institute and colleagues reviewed the medical records of all diagnoses made in youth/young adults (aged 15 to 29) between Jan. 1, 2007, and Dec. 31, 2013, among participants in the Colorado, Northern California, Northwest, Southern California, and Washington regions of Kaiser Permanente. During this period, they identified 624 confirmed cases of a first diagnosis of a psychotic disorder, which included 105 diagnoses of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder, 78 diagnoses of a mood disorder with psychosis, and 441 diagnoses of other psychotic disorders. For comparison, they also examined data from 1,862 patients who had received a diagnosis of first unipolar depression and 1,851 control patients selected from all health plan members who had at least one outpatien...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: acute care AJP in Advance. emergency care Gregory Simon inpatient care outpatient care psychotic disorder unipolar depression youth Source Type: research