Ebony
22-03-05, 09:03 PM
Medical and psychiatric disorders commonly coexist
10 Mar 2005
Researchers have found that both medical and psychiatric comorbidity is common in children with psychiatric disorders, particularly in girls.
"Data in this study emphasize the fact that associations do exist between psychiatric disorders and medical disorders and knowledge of such associations could be useful in planning health services for children… and in providing appropriate therapy," say Donald Spady (University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada) and colleagues.
To determine the association of psychiatric disorders with other psychiatric and medical disorders, the researchers studied administrative health data for 406,640 children aged between 6 and 17 years.
Psychiatric disorders were diagnosed in 32,214 of the participants, and these were classified into three categories: psychosis, emotion, and behavior.
The results, published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, showed that psychiatric comorbidity was present in 13.6% of the children, and existed in all three categories, peaking in postpubertal children.
However, medical comorbidity in these children was also common, with more than 90% of psychiatric disorder patients also having some type of medical disorder. Girls seemed to be more affected than boys.
Specifically, behavior disorder in girls was seen alongside sinusitis, bronchitis, and chronic disorders, while psychosis was often seen in those with menstrual problems. Behavior disorder plus developmental delay was a particularly common combination, with an odds ratio (OR) of 15.3.
This same combination was also the most common for boys, with an OR of 8.3. Indeed, with ORs ranging from 4.6 to 15.3, developmental delay was consistently seen in combination with all three types of psychiatric disorder in both sexes.
Similar to developmental delay, poisoning appeared to be common across all three types of psychiatric disorder, particularly psychosis, with ORs ranging from 3.3 to 14.1. Spady et al say that their findings are important for "reminding physicians taking care of those with a psychiatric disorder that mental disease is not an isolated event but can coexist with medical disorders at probabilities higher than chance."
Source: Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2005; 159: 231–237 (http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/159/3/231)
www.psychiatrysource.com (http://www.psychiatrysource.com)
10 Mar 2005
Researchers have found that both medical and psychiatric comorbidity is common in children with psychiatric disorders, particularly in girls.
"Data in this study emphasize the fact that associations do exist between psychiatric disorders and medical disorders and knowledge of such associations could be useful in planning health services for children… and in providing appropriate therapy," say Donald Spady (University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada) and colleagues.
To determine the association of psychiatric disorders with other psychiatric and medical disorders, the researchers studied administrative health data for 406,640 children aged between 6 and 17 years.
Psychiatric disorders were diagnosed in 32,214 of the participants, and these were classified into three categories: psychosis, emotion, and behavior.
The results, published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, showed that psychiatric comorbidity was present in 13.6% of the children, and existed in all three categories, peaking in postpubertal children.
However, medical comorbidity in these children was also common, with more than 90% of psychiatric disorder patients also having some type of medical disorder. Girls seemed to be more affected than boys.
Specifically, behavior disorder in girls was seen alongside sinusitis, bronchitis, and chronic disorders, while psychosis was often seen in those with menstrual problems. Behavior disorder plus developmental delay was a particularly common combination, with an odds ratio (OR) of 15.3.
This same combination was also the most common for boys, with an OR of 8.3. Indeed, with ORs ranging from 4.6 to 15.3, developmental delay was consistently seen in combination with all three types of psychiatric disorder in both sexes.
Similar to developmental delay, poisoning appeared to be common across all three types of psychiatric disorder, particularly psychosis, with ORs ranging from 3.3 to 14.1. Spady et al say that their findings are important for "reminding physicians taking care of those with a psychiatric disorder that mental disease is not an isolated event but can coexist with medical disorders at probabilities higher than chance."
Source: Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2005; 159: 231–237 (http://archpedi.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/159/3/231)
www.psychiatrysource.com (http://www.psychiatrysource.com)