Profiling Frequent Presenters to the Emergency Department for Mental Health Complaints: Socio-Demographic, Clinical, and Service Use Characteristics

BackgroundA small subset of individuals makes a disproportionate number of ED visits for mental health complaints.Study ObjectivesTo explore the population profile and associated socio-demographic, clinical, and service use factors of individuals who make frequent visits (5 + annually) to hospital EDs for mental health complaints.MethodsCase-control study using electronic health record data.ResultsFrequent presenters represented 3% of mental health ED patients and accounted for 18% of visits. Several factors were significantly associated with frequent ED use, including limited social support, documented personality disorder/traits, regular antipsychotic use, self-reported alcohol use, and having multiple referral sources.