Clinical features of functional somatic symptoms in XXXX and referral patterns to @entity1 and adolescent mental health services.

@entity1 @entity2531
AIM: @entity2531 ( @entity2531 ) are common in paediatric @entity1 who are referred to @entity1 mental health services (CAMHS), but little is known about current referral practices. The aim of this study was to systematically investigate clinical features of paediatric inpatients with @entity2531 referred to CAMHS and to describe why paediatricians referred them. METHODS: The study population comprised 60 @entity1 with @entity2531 admitted to a large Danish paediatric department during 2012. We compared medical record data on the clinical characteristics and paediatric management of 16 @entity1 who had been referred and 44 @entity1 who had not. RESULTS: Most paediatric records lacked information on psychosocial factors and symptoms. Referred @entity1 were significantly more multi-symptomatic of @entity2531 (p<0.01) than the controls, had longer symptom duration, underwent more clinical investigations, had longer paediatric admissions of at least two weeks and received more treatment elements before referral. The most frequently stated referral reason was inadequate treatment response. CONCLUSION: Paediatric inpatients with more severe @entity2531 were more likely to be referred to CAMHS, but referral reasons were generally vague and psychosocial information was frequently missing. Clinical guidelines are needed to improve and systematise mental health referrals for @entity1 with @entity2531 . This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
