A new USA study looking at causes for hospitalization for children and adolescents found that a major cause of morbidity for this group are due to mood disorders that include depression and bipolar disorders. In fact, the leading reason for hospitalizations in general hospitals for children between 13 to 17 years of age, was a diagnosis of mood disorder.
Data from the Kids’ Inpatient Database were analyzed to calculate hospitalization rates for the years 2000, 2003 and 2006. In each of these years there was data available for over 2 million hospitalizations, and in total between 6.3 to 6.5 million hospitals stays in acute care, non-psychiatric hospitals.
Data also showed that mood disorder hospitalization rates were overall constant from 2000 to 2006 however within those rates, there was a decrease in the rate of depressive disorders admissions (from 9.1 to 6.4 per 10,000 children) and an increase in the rate of bipolar hospitalizations (from 3.3 to 5.7 per 10,000 children).
The results suggest that there is a need to provide inpatient specialized care for pediatric mood disorders but also that there is a need to develop more effective interventions for the prevention or treatment of these diagnoses in the community to reduce the need for hospitalization.
For more information go to www.inpsychiatry.com.