PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS IN EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS

Psychiatric disorders are being underdiagnosed in patients attending emergency departments, the 2004 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS) survey of more than 37 000 patients from 376 United States emergency departments had shown. The decision to hospitalise patients with psychiatric comorbidity (defined as two or more psychiatric diagnoses) was five times more likely than with patients diagnosed with a single psychiatric disorder. The most frequent psychiatric categories were substance use disorder, mood disorder, anxiety disorder, and psychosis. (

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DEATH AMONG USERS OF EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS

In Iceland repeat visits to emergency departments have increased from 7% to 14% between 1995 and 2001 among those who were discharged home. Patients attending two or more times during the same year were more likely to die than those who attended an emergency department not more than once a year, with the highest increase in death rate among older men. The main causes of death among these patients were cancer, diseases of the circulatory system, and external causes, particularly drugs and suicide. (

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ASTHMA PREVALENCE IN CHILDREN

The prevalence of childhood asthma has continued to rise over the past 15 years although this increase has been offset by …