28% Of Youth Emergency Visits For Behavioral Health Crisis Involved Undisclosed Substance Use

Among emergency department visits by adolescents and young adults ages 12 to 21 years for a behavioral or mental health (BMH) crisis in 2025, 28.0% of visits with a positive urine drug screen involved youth who had not disclosed illicit substance use during a screening to assess substance use risk. Due to the high percentage of positive tests among those who had not disclosed substance use in the screening, the researchers stated there may be sufficient justification for using global urine screening for youth with BMH crises.

The findings are based on an analysis of 2,008 BMH crisis . . .