Children and adolescents' demand for psychiatric services: Insight from the a nine-year-period visits population change in Nanjing, China

Abstract

Background

The prevalence of mental health issues among children and adolescents has been increasing. The objective of this study is to delineate the evolving characteristics of psychiatric visits among this demographic, including sex differences in service utilization, and to evaluate the capacity of existing medical resources to meet their needs for such visits.

Methods

The data were sourced from Nanjing Brain Hospital and retrieved from outpatient and inpatient records of individuals aged 18 and below who visited the psychiatric department between the dates of July 2015 and June 2024. A descriptive analysis of the temporal changes in clinical features and general data was conducted, and an ETS time series model was employed to forecast whether visit demands are being met.

Results

A total of 594,510 visits were recorded across both outpatient and inpatient systems. The overall number of visits increased year by year, with the fastest growth rate among patients with mood disorders. Furthermore, the growth rate of boys was significantly slower than that of girls (outpatient: OR = 0.93, P < 0.001; inpatient: OR = 0.91, P < 0.001). The ETS time series analysis indicated that future visit trends are expected to stabilize, with a significant proportion of children and adolescents still requiring N-CAP visits (outpatient: 31 %; inpatient: 44 %). In the inpatient system, the majority of this population is concentrated in the 17–18 age group (73 %).

Conclusion

The number of psychiatric visits for children and adolescents has been increasing on an annual basis. The current medical resources are insufficient to meet the growing demand.