ArticleBMC emergency medicine2026
Association between utilisation of pre-hospital emergency services and premature discharge in Emergency Department attendances with mental health triage codes: a retrospective cohort study.
Article in BMC emergency medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPeople attending the Emergency Department (ED) with mental health conditions are a vulnerable group who may struggle to engage with scheduled care. Existing research suggests this cohort are more likely to leave before treatment is complete. This study aimed to examine the utilisation rates of pre-hospital emergency services in transferring people with mental health triage codes to the ED, establish rates on incomplete care, and examine any associations between mode of arrival and self-discharge prior to completion of care.
methodsThis study utilised retrospective analysis of attendances at an inner-city ED on individuals presenting with a mental health triage code: mental illness; behaving strangely; overdose & poisoning; and self-harm. SPSS was used to perform descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate analyses of patient characteristics and the associations between mode of arrival and self-discharge from 2008 to 2022.
resultsDuring the study period 30,941 patients presented to the ED with mental health triage codes. Of these, 53% (n = 16,390) were brought by ambulance and 3.3% (n = 1,016) by the police service. In total, 28.4% (n = 8,732) left before completion of care. Self-discharge was significantly associated with arrival by ambulance (p < 0.001), less urgent triage categories (p < 0.001), and male gender (p < 0.001). The association between self-discharge and mode of arrival remained significant after controlling for age and gender, triage code and time of arrival (OR = 1.42; p < 0.001).
conclusionIn people attending the ED with mental health problems, self-discharge is more frequent in those brought by ambulance. There is a need for qualitative data to understand the needs of this population and target interventions to avoid premature cessation of treatment. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: Not applicable.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.