ArticleJournal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open2025
Pediatric Mental Health Boarding in US Emergency Departments, 2018-2022.
Article in Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Change in Travel Distance for Pediatric Mental Health Admissions in Illinois, 2016 to 2024.Academic pediatrics · 2026Article
- Current and Desired Behavioral Health Resources for Children: A Survey of Illinois Emergency Departments.Journal of the American College of Emergency Physicians open · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Objectives: Children awaiting psychiatric hospitalization in the emergency department (ED) may experience prolonged boarding when no appropriate bed is available. Many recent studies of pediatric mental health boarding have focused on children's hospitals. Thus, we aimed to determine characteristics associated with boarding among pediatric mental health ED visits in a nationally representative sample. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study examined mental health ED visits by children 5 to 17 years old using the 2018-2022 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, which uses probability sampling to generate national estimates. Survey-weighted multivariable logistic regression examined the association between visit characteristics and boarding, defined as visit length ≥12 hours. Results: Of 5,900,704 estimated pediatric mental health ED visits nationally (42.9% 15-17 years old, 56.4% female), 25.2% resulted in admission or transfer, and, of those, 32.1% had length ≥12 hours. Adjusted odds radio (aOR) of boarding were lower for visits by 10 to 14-year-olds (aOR, 0.19; 95% CI: 0.05, 0.70) than 15- to 17-year-olds, for visits by patients identifying as non-Hispanic other (aOR, 0.06; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.72) than non-Hispanic White, for visits with private insurance (aOR, 0.31; 95% CI: 0.10, 0.95) relative to public insurance, and for visits on weekends (aOR, 0.27; 95% CI: 0.08, 0.91) compared with weekdays. Conclusion: Approximately 1 in 3 pediatric mental health ED visits resulting in admission or transfer exceeded 12 hours. Differences in boarding by race, ethnicity, and insurance type reflect inequities in access to psychiatric services. To reduce ED boarding, attention is needed to improve children's access to mental health services across the care continuum.
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Registered trials
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