Older adolescent presentations to a children's hospital emergency department.

Objectives: To describe the characteristics, diagnoses and outcomes of older adolescents, aged 16-19 years, presenting to a paediatric ED.

Methods: A retrospective review of total ED presentations by older adolescents to a tertiary paediatric hospital between 2010 and 2012, inclusive, was undertaken to determine if behavioural or mental health problems were common.

Results: A total of 1184 ED presentations by 730 older adolescents were identified.