Editorial: Identifying Youths With Mood Disorders at High Short-Term Risk of Hospital Readmission

Abstract

Children and adolescents with mood disorder diagnoses are at greater risk of psychiatric hospital admission than youths with disruptive disorder or even psychotic disorder diagnoses.^1,2 These youths account for more than two thirds of all child and adolescent mental health admissions to general hospitals, and they have a substantial risk of early hospital readmission after leaving the hospital.³ Yet despite these risks, surprisingly little attention has been devoted to identifying which child and adolescent inpatients with mood disorders are at particularly high risk of early hospital readmission. Progress in understanding these risks would help child and adolescent psychiatrists focus the most intensive follow-up efforts and interventions on their patients who are most vulnerable to early relapse.