Abstract
Hallucinations occur in the context of many disorders. When experienced as distressing, they are a likely cause of presentation to emergency departments. Knowledge about the rates, diagnoses, and associated costs of hallucinations in emergency departments however is currently lacking. In this study, we analysed patients’ presenting complaints in Western Australia's Emergency Department Data Collection dataset during a two year period (n = 1,798,754). Visits to emergency departments because of distressing hallucinations were more common than previously assumed. Hallucinations (auditory, visual, undifferentiated modality) accounted for 1.8% of all mental health-related presentations and 0.09% of all general health presentations (84.7 per 100,000 persons). Psychotic disorders accounted for a third of all presentations, and hallucinations without a clear medical or psychiatric cause represented 17% of the sample. Hallucination presentations had significantly prolonged lengths of stay compared to other mental health presentations (15 vs 7.5 h, p < 0.001) and were linked to frequent re-admissions (average of 7.4 visits per year). Cost estimates revealed that hallucinations were in the top-10 most costly mental health complaint, and twice as costly to treat as delusions. Altogether, the service utilisation and care needs of people with distressing hallucinations outside of mental health services appear much larger than usually estimated.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 220-224 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Psychiatry Research |
| Volume | 261 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Mar 2018 |
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Hallucinations as a presenting complaint in emergency departments : Prevalence, diagnosis, and costs. / Waters, Flavie; Dragovic, Milan.
In: Psychiatry Research, Vol. 261, 01.03.2018, p. 220-224.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Hallucinations as a presenting complaint in emergency departments
T2 - Prevalence, diagnosis, and costs
AU - Waters, Flavie
AU - Dragovic, Milan
PY - 2018/3/1
Y1 - 2018/3/1
N2 - Hallucinations occur in the context of many disorders. When experienced as distressing, they are a likely cause of presentation to emergency departments. Knowledge about the rates, diagnoses, and associated costs of hallucinations in emergency departments however is currently lacking. In this study, we analysed patients’ presenting complaints in Western Australia's Emergency Department Data Collection dataset during a two year period (n = 1,798,754). Visits to emergency departments because of distressing hallucinations were more common than previously assumed. Hallucinations (auditory, visual, undifferentiated modality) accounted for 1.8% of all mental health-related presentations and 0.09% of all general health presentations (84.7 per 100,000 persons). Psychotic disorders accounted for a third of all presentations, and hallucinations without a clear medical or psychiatric cause represented 17% of the sample. Hallucination presentations had significantly prolonged lengths of stay compared to other mental health presentations (15 vs 7.5 h, p < 0.001) and were linked to frequent re-admissions (average of 7.4 visits per year). Cost estimates revealed that hallucinations were in the top-10 most costly mental health complaint, and twice as costly to treat as delusions. Altogether, the service utilisation and care needs of people with distressing hallucinations outside of mental health services appear much larger than usually estimated.
AB - Hallucinations occur in the context of many disorders. When experienced as distressing, they are a likely cause of presentation to emergency departments. Knowledge about the rates, diagnoses, and associated costs of hallucinations in emergency departments however is currently lacking. In this study, we analysed patients’ presenting complaints in Western Australia's Emergency Department Data Collection dataset during a two year period (n = 1,798,754). Visits to emergency departments because of distressing hallucinations were more common than previously assumed. Hallucinations (auditory, visual, undifferentiated modality) accounted for 1.8% of all mental health-related presentations and 0.09% of all general health presentations (84.7 per 100,000 persons). Psychotic disorders accounted for a third of all presentations, and hallucinations without a clear medical or psychiatric cause represented 17% of the sample. Hallucination presentations had significantly prolonged lengths of stay compared to other mental health presentations (15 vs 7.5 h, p < 0.001) and were linked to frequent re-admissions (average of 7.4 visits per year). Cost estimates revealed that hallucinations were in the top-10 most costly mental health complaint, and twice as costly to treat as delusions. Altogether, the service utilisation and care needs of people with distressing hallucinations outside of mental health services appear much larger than usually estimated.
KW - Clinical care
KW - Economic costs
KW - Non-clinical hallucinations
KW - Service access
KW - Voices
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85040111208&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.psychres.2017.12.074
DO - 10.1016/j.psychres.2017.12.074
M3 - Article
VL - 261
SP - 220
EP - 224
JO - Psychiatry Research
JF - Psychiatry Research
SN - 0165-1781
ER -