Adolescents Presenting to the Emergency Department with Heavy Menstrual Bleeding

Abstract Study Objective To describe the adolescent population that seeks care in the Emergency Department (ED) for heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB), and to compare those who are discharged to those who are admitted to the hospital. Design Retrospective Study. Setting Emergency Department and Inpatient unit at a National Tertiary Care hospital from 2006-2018. Participants Adolescents 11-19 years old with ICD 9 and 10 codes for HMB. Interventions Chart abstraction for demographic data, symptoms, laboratory tests, outcomes, and treatments. Main Outcome Measure Adolescents who were admitted were compared to girls who were treated as outpatients. Results There were 258 adolescents who sought care for HMB in the ED during the study period. Forty-four (17%) were admitted to the hospital, while 214 (83%) were discharged. The average age of those admitted was 15 years, compared to 17 years for those discharged (p Conclusions The majority of adolescents who presented to the emergency department for HMB were not anemic and did not receive any treatment. Of those admitted, almost one-third had an underlying BD—higher than previously reported.