Demographic and clinical characteristics of children seeking psychiatric services in the Nile Delta region: an observational retrospective study

Table 2 General clinical characteristics of children seeking psychiatric medical advice according to age groups (n = 886)

Variable	Preschoolers (n = 309, 34.8%)	School age (n = 428, 48.3%)	Adolescents (n = 149, 16.8%)	Total (n = 886)	Statistic	p value
Family history of psychiatric illness	41 (13.5%)	75 (17.7%)	21 (14.1%)	137 (15.6%)	x² = 2.7	0.3
History of birth complications	78 (25.7%)^a	67 (15.9%)^b	13 (8.7%)^c	158 (18.1%)	x² = 21.9	≤ 0.001
History of delayed milestones	171 (56.4%)^a	186 (44.1%)^b	37 (24.8%)^c	394 (45.1%)	x² = 40.6	≤ 0.001
Birth order (5th or more)	4 (1.3%)	10 (2.3%)	3 (2%)	17 (1.9%)	FET	0.6
History of abuse
Physical punishment	51 (16.8%)^a	91 (21.6%)^a	31 (20.8%)^a	137 (19.8%)	FET	≤ 0.001
Physical abuse	8 (2.6%)^a	35 (8.3%)^b	7 (4.7%)^{a, b}	50 (5.7%)
Sexual abuse	0 (0.0%)^a	5 (1.2%)^{a, b}	4 (2.7%)^b	9 (1%)
Need for admission	5 (1.6%)^a	34 (7.9%)^b	31 (20.8%)^c	70 (7.9%)	x² = 50.9	≤ 0.001

Differing superscripts denote significant between-group differences calculated using pair-wise Chi square tests (p-values ≤ 0.05)

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