Background: The conditions of children and adolescents with migration background receiving emergency psychiatric care in Europe are not well known. Migrants usually attend regular psychiatric care less frequently than the autochthonous population. We therefore speculated that, being undertreated, they would be overrepresented among psychiatric emergency care patients. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the records of 1093 minors aged 4‑18 years treated during a period of three years at the psychiatric emergency outpatient clinic of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Medical University of Vienna. Results: More minors with migration background than natives consulted our emergency clinic. Most frequent reasons for referral were suicide attempts by Turkish patients, acute stress disorder in Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian and in Austrian patients. Psychiatric diagnoses like eating and personality disorders were mostly diagnosed in natives. We found gender specific differences between the groups. Conclusions: The reasons for these differences possibly relate to deficits of adequate mental health-care in Austria, to intercultural and intrafamiliar conflicts related to acculturation distress in the migrant population. Prospective longitudinal studies focusing on the utilization of mental health care by the migrant children and the impact of the migration background on their mental health are needed for improving adequate culture-sensitive mental-health care for this population. © 2016, The Author(s).

Serbian/Croatian/Bosnian children and adolescents Turkish children and adolescents Migration background Psychiatric emergency Children and adolescents

medical record review personality disorder psychiatric emergency Croatian (citizen) Stress Disorders, Traumatic, Acute Croatia human sex difference suicide attempt population group Bosnian (citizen) emergency patient statistics and numerical data Population Groups controlled study comparative study Bosnia and Herzegovina Minors Suicide, Attempted Austria ethnology Mental Disorders Cross-Sectional Studies cross-sectional study migrant psychology Cross-Cultural Comparison Adolescent consultation male Emigrants and Immigrants Humans preschool child patient referral female Child, Preschool Referral and Consultation Austrian outpatient department cultural factor Turk (people) Article minor (person) major clinical study emergency care eating disorder acute stress disorder migration adult Sex Factors Turkey utilization Serbia Serbian (citizen) Child Emergency Services, Psychiatric psychiatric emergency service