Abstract:

Aim: Referrals to child and adolescent psychiatry may be due to the family, school, the teenager's own request or other units like paediatrics. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate child and adolescent psychiatric applications, diagnosis and comorbidities according to multiple referral complaints. Material and Methods: Medical records of 1079 patients referred to the Children and Adolescent Psychiatry outpatient clinic at Kirikkale University, between April 2017 and March 2018 were evaluated retrospectively. Results: Most of the cases were boys (63.5%) and average age was 9.2±4.0 years. Boys were mostly at school aged. Adolescent girls could apply due to their own request. School directed mostly for externalizing problems, peadiatrics directed mostly for neurodevelopmental problems and somatic complatins. Hyperactivity, nervousness, speech problems/delay were common in boys; somatic complaints, unhappiness/easy crying, self-harm behavior/suicide attempt were common in girls. More than one complaint was seen mostly in boys. 75.3% of patients had at least one diagnosis. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), communication disorders and autism spectrum disorder were common in boys, depression, seperation anxiety disorder were common in girls. 17.7% of boys and 12.7% of girls had comorbidites. The rate of comorbidity was 86.5% in the presence of more than one complaints (p<0.05). The diagnosis rate of comorbidities were 5.2% in preschool patients, 19. 2% in school aged patients and 19.5% in adolescent patients. They were mainly in ADHD and intellectual disability group. The findings were consistent with the literature. This study would contribute to the improvement of child and adolescent psychiatric services and may be beneficial for preventive mental health. It is recommended to collect epidemiological data with structured scales.

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