TOPLINE: 

Among 62 million emergency department (ED) visits across 12 US jurisdictions from 2022 to 2024, more than 4 million were related to mental health. The rates declined to 6107 per 100,000 ED visits in 2024, were highest among young adults and female patients, and varied widely by demographics and location.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a cross-sectional surveillance analysis using data from the CDC's Advancing Violence Epidemiology in Real-Time (AVERT) program and included approximately 62 million ED visits among individuals aged 10 years or older across 12 US jurisdictions between 2022 and 2024.
• Mental health-related ED visits involved anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, disruptive behavioral and impulse-control disorders, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, tic disorders, trauma- and stressor-related disorders, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and other less common mental health conditions.
• The analysis was restricted to 851 facilities that met data-quality criteria (a coefficient of variation for total visit volume of less than 40% and more than 75% completeness for discharge diagnoses).
• The outcome was the rate of mental health-related ED visits per 100,000 total ED visits.

TAKEAWAY:

• More than 4 million ED visits were related to mental health, corresponding to a rate of 6548 per 100,000 ED visits.
• Rates of mental health-related visits declined over time — from 6879 per 100,000 ED visits in 2022 to 6677 per 100,000 ED visits in 2023 and 6107 per 100,000 ED visits in 2024.
• Visit rates were highest among non-Hispanic White persons (7213 per 100,000 ED visits) and American Indian and/or Alaska Native persons (6445 per 100,000 ED visits) and were lowest among non-Hispanic Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander persons (4427 per 100,000 ED visits).
• Visit rates were highest among individuals aged 25-34 years (7199 per 100,000 ED visits), and jurisdictional rates varied widely (from 3258 to 9360 per 100,000 ED visits). By sex, the mental health-related ED visit rate was highest among female patients (6678 per 100,000 ED visits).

IN PRACTICE:

"Our findings underscore both the progress made and continued need for a coordinated public health approach to prevention and early intervention to reduce the burden of mental health-related ED visits and improve long-term mental health outcomes," the authors wrote.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Marissa L. Zwald, PhD, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, CDC, Atlanta, Georgia. It was published online on December 10, 2025, as a research letter in Annals of Emergency Medicine.

LIMITATIONS: 

The findings of the study were limited to the 12 jurisdictions participating in the CDC's AVERT program, which affected generalizability. Variations in data quality and provider coding practices may have led to overestimation or underestimation of visits. The analysis examined overall mental health-related visits without condition‑specific breakdowns or trend assessment by patient characteristics. The cross‑sectional design prevented causal inference about observed changes, and the inability to track repeat visits affected data interpretation.

DISCLOSURES:

The authors did not report any funding information or conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.