Cohort profile: demographic and clinical characteristics of the MILESTONE longitudinal cohort of young people approaching the upper age limit of their child mental health care service in Europe
Creators: name: Gerritsen, Suzanne E
name: Maras, Athanasios
name: Van Bodegom, Larissa S
name: Overbeek, Mathilde M
name: Verhulst, Frank C
name: Wolke, Dieter
name: Appleton, Rebecca
name: Bertani, Angelo
name: Cataldo, Maria G
name: Conti, Patrizia
name: Da Fonseca, David
name: Davidović, Nikolina
name: Dodig-Ćurković, Katarina
name: Ferrari, Cecilia
name: Fiori, Federico
name: Franić, Tomislav
name: Gatherer, Charlotte
name: De Girolamo, Giovanni
name: Heaney, Natalie
name: Hendrickx, Gaëlle
name: Kolozsvari, Alfred
name: Levi, Flavia Micol
name: Lievesley, Kate
name: Madan, Jason
name: Martinelli, Ottaviano
name: Mastroianni, Mathilde
name: Maurice, Virginie
name: McNicholas, Fiona
name: O'Hara, Lesley
name: Paul, Moli
name: Purper-Ouakil, Diane
name: De Roeck, Veronique
name: Russet, Frédérick
name: Saam, Melanie C
name: Sagar-Ouriaghli, Ilyas
name: Santosh, Paramala J
name: Sartor, Anne
name: Schandrin, Aurélie
name: Schulze, Ulrike M E
name: Signorini, Giulia
name: Singh, Swaran P
name: Singh, Jatinder
name: Street, Cathy
name: Tah, Priya
name: Tanase, Elena
name: Tremmery, Sabine
name: Tuffrey, Amanda
name: Tuomainen, Helena
name: Van Amelsvoort, Therese A M J
name: Wilson, Anna
name: Walker, Leanne
name: Dieleman, Gwen C
Publisher: name: Universität Ulm
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: international health services
subject: DDC 150 / Psychology
subject: Child psychiatry
subject: Adolescent psychiatry
subject: Mental health services
subject: Internationality
subject: Psychiatry
subject: Adult
subject: Kinderpsychiatrie
subject: Jugendpsychiatrie
subject: Psychiatrische Versorgung
subject: Internationalität

description: PurposeThe presence of distinct child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and adult mental health services (AMHS) impacts continuity of mental health treatment for young people. However, we do not know the extent of discontinuity of care in Europe nor the effects of discontinuity on the mental health of young people. Current research is limited, as the majority of existing studies are retrospective, based on small samples or used non-standardised information from medical records. The MILESTONE prospective cohort study aims to examine associations between service use, mental health and other outcomes over 24 months, using information from self, parent and clinician reports.ParticipantsSeven hundred sixty-three young people from 39 CAMHS in 8 European countries, their parents and CAMHS clinicians who completed interviews and online questionnaires and were followed up for 2 years after reaching the upper age limit of the CAMHS they receive treatment at.Findings to dateThis cohort profile describes the baseline characteristics of the MILESTONE cohort. The mental health of young people reaching the upper age limit of their CAMHS varied greatly in type and severity: 32.8% of young people reported clinical levels of self-reported problems and 18.6% were rated to be ‘markedly ill’, ‘severely ill’ or ‘among the most extremely ill’ by their clinician. Fifty-seven per cent of young people reported psychotropic medication use in the previous half year.Future plansAnalysis of longitudinal data from the MILESTONE cohort will be used to assess relationships between the demographic and clinical characteristics of young people reaching the upper age limit of their CAMHS and the type of care the young person uses over the next 2 years, such as whether the young person transitions to AMHS. At 2 years follow-up, the mental health outcomes of young people following different care pathways will be compared.Trial registration numberNCT03013595.