This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Psychiatric disorders persisted in juveniles years after incarceration

A significant number of delinquent youth continued to experience psychiatric disorders with associated impairment 5 years after being released from juvenile detention, according to study results published in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

“Although prevalence rates of most psychiatric disorders declined over time, a substantial proportion of delinquent youth continued to have disorders as they aged,” study researcher Linda A. Teplin, PhD, of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a press release. “For some youth, detention may coincide with a period of crisis that subsequently abates. Many youth, however, continue to struggle.”

Teplin and colleagues examined the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in 1,829 youth aged 10 to 18 years who were detained at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center in Chicago, a pretrial prison facility for young offenders sentenced to less than 30 days.

Baseline assessments were conducted via face-to-face interviews at the detention center within 2 days of intake, and youth were followed up at 3 and 4.5 years. Past-year psychiatric disorders were determined using DSM-IV criteria.

More than 45% of males and almost 30% of females had one or more psychiatric disorders with associated impairment 5 years after baseline. Substance use disorders were the most common among incarcerated youth, and males had higher rates of substance use vs. females (adjusted OR=2.61; 95% CI, 1.96-3.47). Non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics had higher rates of substance use disorders compared with blacks (AOR=1.96; 95% CI, 1.54-2.49 and AOR=1.59; 95%CI, 1.24-2.03, respectively). Females had higher rates of major depression vs. males (AOR=1.59; 95% CI, 1.22-2.08).

Teplin and colleagues said health care reform cannot improve mental health services for detained youth because federal law precludes Medicaid payments from juvenile or adult inmates of public institutions.

“Therefore, we must improve services and access to care in corrections and in the community, where virtually all detained juveniles and incarcerated adults will eventually return,” the researchers wrote.

Disclosure: Researcher Mina K. Dulcan, MD, receives book royalties from American Psychiatric Publishing Inc. and sat on the Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Reader Disorder and Strattera advisory boards of Eli Lilly and Co. as recently as 2009. Dulcan is also a consultant for Care Management Technologies Inc. The other researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.