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. 2024 Oct;150(4):234-244.
doi: 10.1111/acps.13744. Epub 2024 Aug 8.

Diagnostic and demographic factors of pediatric and adult catatonia hospitalizations: A 2016-2020 National Inpatient Sample Study

James Luccarelli  1   2 , Mark Kalinich  1   3 , Gregory Fricchione  1   2 , Felicia Smith  1   2 , Scott R Beach  1   2 , Joshua R Smith  4   5
Affiliations

Diagnostic and demographic factors of pediatric and adult catatonia hospitalizations: A 2016-2020 National Inpatient Sample Study

James Luccarelli et al. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2024 Oct.

Abstract

Objective: Catatonia is a neuropsychiatric disorder that can occur in patients of any age, but it is uncertain whether patient demographics or underlying diagnoses differ between pediatric and adult patients. This study investigates patients of all ages diagnosed with catatonia during acute care hospitalizations in the United States over a 5-year period.

Method: The National Inpatient Sample, an all-payors database of acute care hospital discharges, was queried for patients with a discharge diagnosis of catatonia between 2016 and 2020 with patients stratified by age as pediatric (≤18 years) or adult (>18 years).

Results: Among 174,776,205 hospitalizations recorded in the NIS from 2016 to 2020, 61,990 (95% CI: 60,257 to 63,723; 0.035%) involved a diagnosis of catatonia. Of these, 3255 were for pediatric patients and 58,735 were for adult patients. Compared with adult patients, pediatric catatonia patients were more likely to be male and non-White. Diagnostically, psychotic disorders, encephalitis, and neurodevelopmental disorders were more common primary discharge diagnoses in pediatric patients, while adult patients more frequently were diagnosed with mood disorders. Length of stay was not significantly different between pediatric and adult catatonia hospitalizations. Physical restraints were commonly applied for patients with catatonia.

Conclusion: Pediatric and adult catatonia patients differed in sex, race, and diagnosis, although hospital length of stay was not different between pediatric and adult catatonia hospitalizations. These results may inform catatonia diagnosis in the hospital setting and point to disparities that could be targets of quality improvement efforts.

Keywords: catatonia; cohort studies; consult liaison psychiatry; demography.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures

JL receives funding from Harvard Medical School, the Rappaport Foundation, and the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research. He holds equity and has received consulting income from Revival Therapeutics, Inc. MK has equity in Watershed Informatics and Revival Therapeutics, Inc. GF holds equity in Revival Therapeutics, Inc. FAS has received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health. JRS receives funding from the National Institute of Child and Human Development. JRS also receives support from Axial and Roche. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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