Psychiatric illness in a general urban emergency room: daytime versus nighttime population.

ABSTRACT

Two hundred adults presenting to the emergency room of an urban general hospital were interviewed by a standardized technique to evaluate the existence of a current or previous psychiatric illness. Half of the subjects presented between 800 a.m. and 400 p.m. (daytime group), and 100 presented between 1200 a.m. and 800 a.m. (nighttime group). In the nighttime population 65% were judged to have current or past psychiatric illnesses. In the daytime population only 36% had current or past psychiatric illnesses. The differences between the 2 populations was highly significant. Fewer than 10% of the 200 patients presented with neuropsychiatric symptoms in their chief complaints.