Catatonia in adolescents: series of 12 inpatients.

BACKGROUND: Catatonia is one of the most severe psychiatric syndromes that might be caused by many medical as well as psychiatric conditions. Catatonia in adolescents is rare and largely understudied.

AIMS: This papers aims to examine cases of catatonia among adolescent psychiatric inpatients, and to scrutinize both the etiologies and the management options.

METHODS: A retrospective descriptive study involving all cases of catatonia among adolescents admitted to the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Razi Hospital - Manouba - Tunisia between January 2006 and December 2013. Catatonia was confirmed by Bush-Francis Catatonia Rating Scale. Medical records were examined for gender, age, clinical presentation, medical or psychiatric diagnosis as well as management. Psychiatric diagnoses were made according to the DSM-IV criteria.

RESULTS: Our series consisted of 12 cases, aged between 12 and 16 with a sex ratio male/female of 0.5. Catatonia was due to a medical condition in three cases and to a psychiatric disorder in the other nine cases. Psychiatric diagnoses included: manic episode (n=3), major depressive episode (n=2), schizophrenia (n=2), pervasive developmental disorder (n=1) and conversion disorder (n=1).

CONCLUSION: Catatonia is rare yet life-threatening. Careful and thorough examination is needed to determine the etiological disorder, on which depend both treatment and prognosis.