Department of Paediatrics, University Hospital Limerick, Dooradoyle, Limerick, Ireland.
Ir J Med Sci. 2019 Nov;188(4):1407-1411. doi: 10.1007/s11845-019-02002-x. Epub 2019 Mar 12.
Mid-adolescence, that twilight era when the human child transitions to adulthood, is an often overlooked developmental age yet harbours a subpopulation of patients with their own myriad of medical problems somewhat unique to their age group.
Our study is aimed at reviewing the typical presentations to a paediatric emergency department of modern Irish teenagers in mid-adolescence, the profile of which has changed significantly over the past 10 years.
Hospital electronic databases were used to conduct a retrospective review of the paediatric emergency department presentations of patients aged 14-15 years during the year of 2017. We collated data on the presenting complaint, background history, admission rate and medical specialities involved in each patient's care while in our Emergency Department.
A total of 1485 presentations were made, with 1363 being eligible for inclusion in this study. The results highlight the varied and challenging presentations (Table 1) and the high number of specialities required within emergency medicine to care for this unique population (Table 2).
The results highlight the most common presentations of this subgroup of patients, with trauma, in keeping with recent international data, being the most common presentation. The noted high frequency in the number of mental health/intoxication/self-harm presentations among the Irish teenagers in our region is consistent with trends reported in world literature and serves to emphasise one of the main challenges facing those working in paediatrics in Ireland over the next 10 years.
青春期中期是人类从儿童向成人过渡的时期，这个时期经常被忽视，但却存在着一群患有各种独特于其年龄组的医学问题的患者。
我们的研究旨在回顾现代爱尔兰青少年青春期中期到儿科急诊就诊的典型表现，其特征在过去 10 年中发生了显著变化。
利用医院电子数据库，对 2017 年 14-15 岁患者的儿科急诊就诊情况进行回顾性分析。我们收集了每位患者在急诊就诊期间的主要诉求、背景病史、入院率和参与其治疗的医学专科等数据。
共进行了 1485 次就诊，其中 1363 次符合纳入本研究的标准。结果突出了多样化和具有挑战性的就诊情况（表 1），以及在急诊医学中需要涉及的多个专科（表 2）。
结果突出了这组患者的最常见就诊情况，与最近的国际数据一致，创伤是最常见的就诊原因。在我们地区的爱尔兰青少年中，心理健康/中毒/自残就诊的高频率与世界文献中的报告趋势一致，强调了未来 10 年爱尔兰儿科医生面临的主要挑战之一。
