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Deliberate self‐harm in older adults: A national analysis of US emergency department visits and follow‐up care
Author(s) -
Schmutte Timothy,
Olfson Mark,
Xie Ming,
Marcus Steven C.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.5109
Subject(s) - medicine , emergency department , relative risk , mental health , comorbidity , retrospective cohort study , cohort , psychiatry , confidence interval
Objective To examine mental health care received by older adults following emergency department (ED) visits for deliberate self‐harm. Methods This retrospective cohort analysis examined 2015 Medicare claims for adults ≥65 years of age with ED visits for deliberate self‐harm (N = 16 495). We estimated adjusted risk ratios (ARR) for discharge disposition, ED coding of mental disorder, and 30‐day follow‐up mental health outpatient care. Results Most patients (76.9%) were hospitalized with lower likelihoods observed for African American patients (ARR = 0.86, 99% CI = 0.79‐0.94) and patients with either one medical comorbidity (ARR = 0.91, 99% CI = 0.83‐0.99) or two to three comorbidities (ARR = 0.93, 99% CI = 0.88‐0.99). Hospitalization was associated with recent depression (ARR = 1.09, 99% CI = 1.03‐1.16) and recent psychiatric inpatient care (ARR = 1.13, 99% CI = 1.04‐1.22). Among patients discharged to the community (n = 3818), 56.4% received an ED mental disorder diagnosis. Predictors of an ED mental disorder diagnosis included younger age (65‐69 years; ARR = 1.53, 99% CI = 1.31‐1.78), recent mental health care in ED (ARR = 1.50, 99% CI = 1.29‐1.74) or outpatient (ARR = 1.62, 99% CI = 1.44‐1.82) settings, recent diagnosis of mental disorder (ARR = 1.61, 99% CI = 1.43‐1.80), and other/unknown lethality methods of self‐harm (ARR = 1.24, 99% CI = 1.01‐1.52). Among community discharged patients, 39.0% received 30‐day follow‐up outpatient mental health care, which was most strongly predicted by an ED diagnosis of mental disorder (ARR = 2.65, 99% CI = 2.25‐3.12) and prior outpatient mental health care (ARR = 2.62, 99% CI = 2.28‐3.00). Conclusion Most older adult Medicare beneficiaries who present to EDs with self‐harm are hospitalized. Of those who are discharged to the community, many are not diagnosed with mental disorder in the ED or receive timely follow‐up mental health care.