Dual diagnosis in adolescence - An escalating health risk

[Combined mental diseases in children and adolescents]

OBJECTIVE

To establish the prevalence, clinical patterns and dynamics as well as social adaptation of combined mental disorders in juvenile patients traced to a young adult age.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

An outpatient cohort included 1203 children and adolescents born in 1990-1992. A group of patients from this cohort was followed up till the age 23-25 years.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

A combined mental illness was identified in 17,5% of all children and adolescents. The most common types of disorders associated with the underlying mental illness were organic mental disorders and early onset addictions. Clinical dynamics of children-adolescent combined mental diseases was characterized by the prolonged presence of symptoms of two or more diseases during the follow-up. Social adaptation of patients with co-morbidities was worse than those with one disease.