title: Psychiatric emergencies of minors with and without migration background.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The conditions of children and adolescents with migration background receiving emergency psychiatric care in Europe are not well known. Migrants usually attend regular psychiatric care less frequently than the autochthonous population. We therefore speculated that, being undertreated, they would be overrepresented among psychiatric emergency care patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively analyzed the records of 1093 minors aged 4‑18 years treated during a period of three years at the psychiatric emergency outpatient clinic of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Medical University of Vienna.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More minors with migration background than natives consulted our emergency clinic. Most frequent reasons for referral were suicide attempts by Turkish patients, acute stress disorder in Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian and in Austrian patients. Psychiatric diagnoses like eating and personality disorders were mostly diagnosed in natives. We found gender specific differences between the groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The reasons for these differences possibly relate to deficits of adequate mental health-care in Austria, to intercultural and intrafamiliar conflicts related to acculturation distress in the migrant population. Prospective longitudinal studies focusing on the utilization of mental health care by the migrant children and the impact of the migration background on their mental health are needed for improving adequate culture-sensitive mental-health care for this population.
authors.affiliation: Outpatient Clinic of Transcultural Psychiatry and Migration Induced Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria. tuerkan.akkaya-kalayci@meduniwien.ac.at.
authors.forename: Türkan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akkaya-Kalayci
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Popow
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Medical University of Vienna, Kinderspitalgasse 15/I, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Waldhör
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Dietmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Winkler
authors.affiliation: Outpatient Clinic of Transcultural Psychiatry and Migration Induced Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Medical University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Zeliha
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Özlü-Erkilic
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001317:Austria; D017522:Bosnia and Herzegovina / Q000208:ethnology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017523:Croatia / Q000208:ethnology; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004637:Emergency Services, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D033242:Minors / Q000523:psychology*; D044382:Population Groups / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055771:Serbia / Q000208:ethnology; D012737:Sex Factors; D040701:Stress Disorders, Traumatic, Acute / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000208:ethnology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014421:Turkey / Q000208:ethnology
keywords: Children and adolescents; Migration background; Psychiatric emergency; Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian children and adolescents; Turkish children and adolescents