Epidemiology of Children and Young People Presenting to Australian Emergency Departments for the Management of Acute Severe Behavioural Disturbance: Secondary Analysis of a Randomised Controlled Trial
Abstract
Aim: To describe the epidemiological characteristics of children and young people presenting to the emergency department (ED) with acute severe behavioural disturbance (ASBD) who were deemed to require oral sedative medication.
Methods: Secondary analysis of a randomised controlled open-label multi-centre trial of oral olanzapine versus oral diazepam for the management of ASBD in children and young people aged nine to 17 years for whom epidemiological data were recorded.
Results: There were 348 participants enrolled in the randomised controlled trial (RCT). The majority were female (215/348, 62%) with a mean age of 14.6 years (standard deviation 2.2). The most common pre-existing medical or mental health condition was anxiety (122/299, 35%) followed by attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder (33% and 32%, respectively). Two-thirds of the study population (216/348, 62%) had previously attended the ED for ASBD management and 61% (212/348) reported previous intentional self-harm. Nearly three-quarters (247/348, 71%) were accessing psychiatric care in the community prior to their ED presentation. Half of the study population (178/348, 52%) presented to the ED with emergency services (e.g., ambulance, police). The median length of stay in the ED was 5.7 h (interquartile range 3.9-10.2 h) and 28% (98/348) of study participants required admission to hospital.
Conclusions: For children and young people presenting to the ED with ASBD who were deemed to…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a secondary / pooled analysis, done in people. Its evidence level is 3 of 5 (Moderate · trial / cohort / secondary analysis). Trials without a large randomized design, cohorts and secondary analyses give moderate evidence. Reported size: 348 participants or records.
Read the paper
Related studies
- The Matrisome: In Silico Definition and In Vivo Characterization by Proteomics of Normal and Tumor Extracellular Matrices
- The Escherichia coli MG1655 in silico metabolic genotype: Its definition, characteristics, and capabilities
- In silico pharmacology for drug discovery: methods for virtual ligand screening and profiling
- In silico prediction of splice-altering single nucleotide variants in the human genome
- In silico clinical trials: how computer simulation will transform the biomedical industry
- In silico optimization of a guava antimicrobial peptide enables combinatorial exploration for peptide design
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.