[Adolescents in the Pediatric Emergency Department: Detection of risk behavior and depression]

The main objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of social and psychological problems, risk behaviors, and depression symptoms in a population of adolescents consulting in a Pediatric Emergency Department of a general hospital, and compare these according to the reasons for consulting.

Observational monocentric study, in the Pediatric Emergency Department of a general hospital in Britany, France, between January and September 2013, using a questionnaire dispensed to 12- to 18-year-old adolescents. The questions covered habits, school, symptoms, risk behaviors, and depression symptoms. Patients were classified into three groups based of the initial aim of the consultation: medical, traumatologic, and acute psychiatric.

A total of 379 adolescents, median age: 15 years, were included. Adolescents from the "psychiatric" group resided significantly more often with only one of their parents or in a residential home; they were more often followed by an youth worker and/or a mental health professional such as a psychologist or a psychiatrist; consumed alcohol, cannabis, and/or tobacco more often; they complained more often of headache or abdominal and lumbar pain, dizziness, and sleep disorders; they consumed anxiolytic and hypnotic drugs more often; they ran away more often; and had signs of depression and/or suicidal ideation and behaviors. The prevalence of all these psychosocial and behavioral risks was also high in the two other groups.

The Pediatric Emergency Department is a good place to detect adolescents with behavioral problems and/or depression symptoms, even if this is not the initial purpose of admission.