Descriptive analysis of patients admitted to a new adolescent inpatient unit in Madrid

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Adolescent mental health problems may have increased after COVID-19 worldwide pandemic. Therefore it seems necessary to study the state of mental health inpatient adolescent units. Objective(s) Adolescent mental health problems may have increased after COVID-19 worldwide pandemic. Therefore it seems necessary to study the state of mental health inpatient adolescent units. Method(s) An observational and descriptive analysis of the sample of patients between 12 and 17 years-old, that were admitted to the inpatient mental health unit since its opening on April 2021. Result(s) A total of 205 patients were admitted from April 2021 until October 2021. We have observed sex diferences within patients admitted, as the 82.9% of them were female. The mean age was 14.7, being 14.6 for girls and 15.3 for boys. The most common reason for admission (RFA) were suicidal ideation/attempt, eating disorders, affective disorders, conduct disorders/challenging behaviors and psychosis. Suicidal ideation/attempt was the most common RFA (57.07%) in both sexes, being higher among females (60.3%) than males (42.9%). Eating disorders were the second most common RFA in girls (17.7%) while psychosis (17.1%) and mood disorders (17.1%) were the second most common RFA within boys. Conclusion(s) Findings on how COVID-19 affected adolescents mental health are controversial in the literature, our data suggest that there is a need of developing quality studies that analyse how the pandemic might be influencing adolescents suicidal ideation/ attempt and its protective and risk factors.