Temperature and mental health–related emergency department and hospital encounters among children, adolescents and young adults

AIMS: We examine the association between high ambient temperature and acute mental health-related healthcare encounters in New York City for children, adolescents and young adults. METHODS: This case-crossover study included emergency department (ED) visits and hospital encounters with a primary diagnosis of any mental health disorder during warm-season months (June–August) in New York City from 2005 to 2011 from patients of three age groups (6–11, 12–17 and 18–25 years). Using a distributed lag non-linear model over 0–5 lag days, by fitting a conditional logistic regression for each age group, we calculated the cumulative odds ratios of mental health encounters associated with an elevated temperature. Analyses were stratified by race/ethnicity, payment source and mental health categories to elucidate vulnerable subpopulations. RESULTS: In New York City, there were 82,982 mental health–related encounters for young people aged 6 to 25 years during our study period months. Elevated temperature days were associated with higher risk of mental health–related ED and hospital encounters for the 6- to 11-year-olds (odds ratio [OR]: 1.28, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.13–1.46), for the 12- to 17-year-olds (OR: 1.17, 95% CI: 1.09–1.25) and for the 18- to 25-year-olds (OR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.04–1.15). Children with reaction disorders, adolescents with anxiety and bipolar disorders, young adults with psychosis and reaction disorders and Black and non-Hispanic children and adolescents showed vulnerability to elevated temperature. CONCLUSIONS: We found that elevated ambient temperatures were associated with acute mental health ED or hospital encounters across childhood, adolescence and young adulthood.