Associations between self‐harm and chronic disease among adolescents: Cohort study using statewide emergency department data
Tóm tắt
We sought to understand the association between youthful self‐harm and subsequent chronic disease‐related healthcare utilization and whether self‐harm reflects unique vulnerability in comparison with severe psychiatric disorders.
We used a retrospective matched cohort design with statewide, all‐payer, individually linked emergency department (ED) data from California, USA. Risk of future ED visits for common chronic conditions in adolescence (headaches, asthma, epilepsy, diabetes, and gastrointestinal disorders, assessed using
Risk of subsequent ED visits was higher among self‐harm patients compared to non‐psychiatric control patients for subsequent epilepsy‐ (aRR = 1.77, 95% CI [1.42, 2.21]). Risk of subsequent ED visits was higher among psychiatric patients compared to non‐psychiatric control patients for subsequent headache‐ (aRR = 1.31, 95% CI [1.21, 1.42]), and epilepsy‐related problems (aRR = 1.85, 95% CI [1.55, 2.21]). Self‐harm patients were at higher risk than psychiatric patients for subsequent gastrointestinal disorder (aRR = 1.76, 95% CI [1.03, 3.01]).
Findings suggest that self‐harm behavior and psychiatric disorders are associated with increased ED utilization for subsequent chronic disease‐related ED utilization. Chronic disease among adolescent psychiatric patients should be attended to, potentially involving new models of clinical follow‐up care.