Presence of alcohol and other drug use within youth mental health presentations to the emergency department: A single-site retrospective observational study.

OBJECTIVE

Youth mental health is a growing issue, which can be worsened by alcohol and other drug (AOD) use. The present study aimed to characterise the association of AOD use in youth presenting to an ED with a mental health crisis.

METHODS

A retrospective observational study of paediatric patients presenting with mental health concerns to a tertiary ED in New Zealand in 2019-2020, with an examination of use of alcohol or other drugs before presentation.

RESULTS

There were 842 ED presentations, made up of 491 unique individuals, examined from the 2-year period. Overdose (63.1%) was the most common reason for presentation, with 39.9% of overdoses involving prescription-only medications, 36.7% over-the-counter, and 20.0% a combination. Seventy-four (8.8%) presentations had documented use of alcohol or other drugs (excluding those taken in overdose) before arrival, with alcohol (51 presentations), followed by cannabis (19 presentations), being the most commonly recorded drugs used. Concurrent AOD use was not associated with any significant difference in triage, length of stay or admission status.

CONCLUSION

In New Zealand, it is not legal to sell alcohol to persons under 18 years; however, this was the most commonly identified drug impacting on youth mental health presentations. There is a known association between alcohol use and adverse mental health symptoms; therefore, efforts to decrease access to alcohol in this age group must continue, and harm reduction interventions to reduce clinically significant overdoses recommended.