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Meta-Analysis
. 2016 Apr 27;11(4):e0154449.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0154449. eCollection 2016.

Epidemiology of Mental Health Attendances at Emergency Departments: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Helen Barratt  1 , Antonio Rojas-García  1 , Katherine Clarke  2 , Anna Moore  3 , Craig Whittington  2 , Sarah Stockton  4 , James Thomas  5 , Stephen Pilling  2 , Rosalind Raine  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Epidemiology of Mental Health Attendances at Emergency Departments: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Helen Barratt et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: The characteristics of Emergency Department (ED) attendances due to mental or behavioural health disorders need to be described to enable appropriate development of services. We aimed to describe the epidemiology of mental health-related ED attendances within health care systems free at the point of access, including clinical reason for presentation, previous service use, and patient sociodemographic characteristics.

Method: Systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies describing ED attendances by patients with common mental health conditions.

Findings: 18 studies from seven countries met eligibility criteria. Patients attending due to mental or behavioural health disorders accounted for 4% of ED attendances; a third were due to self-harm or suicidal ideation. 58.1% of attendees had a history of psychiatric illness and up to 58% were admitted. The majority of studies were single site and of low quality so results must be interpreted cautiously.

Conclusions: Prevalence studies of mental health-related ED attendances are required to enable the development of services to meet specific needs.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. PRISMA Flow Diagram.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Methodological quality of included studies (n = 18).
Fig 3
Fig 3. Forest plot (random effects)—proportion of all ED episodes related to mental health disorders.
In Fig 3, each of the lines with a square represents one of the studies included in the meta-analysis. Where findings were reported for several different cohorts within one publication, results from each centre/time period/cohort appear separately. The squares are centred on the point estimate of the result from the relevant study. The horizontal line running through the square shows the confidence interval of the estimate. The size of each square corresponds to the size of the study and therefore the precision of the estimate. The diamond symbol represents the overall estimate from the meta-analysis, and the horizontal line its confidence interval.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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