TY - JOUR T1 - Disposition of emergency department patients with psychiatric comorbidity: results from the 2004 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey JF - Emergency Medicine Journal JO - Emerg Med J SP - 274 LP - 275 DO - 10.1136/emj.2005.027367 VL - 23 IS - 4 AU - S Kunen AU - C Prejean AU - B Gladney AU - D Harper AU - C V Mandry Y1 - 2006/04/01 UR - http://emj.bmj.com/content/23/4/274.abstract N2 - Background: Few emergency department (ED) studies have examined how psychiatric comorbidity relates to hospitalisation decisions. Methods: We assessed the relationship of psychiatric comorbidity to hospitalisation decisions among ED patients in the 2004 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. Results: Patients with psychiatric comorbidity were five times more likely to be hospitalised than patients with a single psychiatric diagnosis. The most frequent psychiatric comorbidities involved substance use disorders (SUDs). Conclusions: Psychiatric disorders are underdiagnosed among ED patients. We believe that this underdiagnosis may be partly responsible for the high hospitalisation rates of ED patients with SUDs ER -