Abstract:

Objective: Psychiatric disorders seen in children or adolescents hospitalized for any medical reason is an important issue because of their effects on both the physical and psychiatric functioning of patients. Psychiatric consultations requested by the Ankara Pediatric & Pediatric Hematology Oncology Training and Research Hospital's Clinics from the Child Psychiatry Department were examined retrospectively.Material and Methods: Records obtained between 15th May 2012 and 15th May 2013 were found and demographic data, clinic requesting the consultation, reasons for the consultation, medical diagnosis (if any), results of the psychiatric examination, and the data were analyzed with the SPSS 17.0 program. Results: A consultation was requested for a total of 391 children and adolescents among the 14,577 hospitalized cases (2.6%). The majority of the patients were girls (70.6%) and adolescents (80.6%), and the average age was 14.1±3.9 years. The most common reasons for the consultations were 'suicide attempt (60.6%)', 'diagnostic confusion (11.0%)', and 'depressive symptoms (6.6%). There was at least one psychiatric disorder in 57.3% of the patients. Major depressive episodes (36.2%), anxiety disorders (20.1%), and intellectual disabilities (13.3%) were most commonly diagnosed ones. One or more psychotropic agents, with the most common one being fl uoxetine (12.3%), were recommended to 36. 6% of the patients, and there were no differences between sexes in terms of starting psychotropic treatment. Conclusion: Consultation rates were much lower than the expected rate of 27-66% except for suicide attempts. This could come from the diffi culty to recognize and consult psychiatric symptoms by physicians working in disciplines other than psychiatry. The majority of suicide attempts among the case could be due to the obligation imposed by health directorships regarding the examination and follow-up of these cases. At least one psychiatric disorder was diagnosed in just over half of patients so we believe most consultations for the hospitalized children had been appropriately requested and this is promising for the future of the hospitalized children.

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