Factitious disorder in children and adolescents: a retrospective study.

BACKGROUND Factitious disorder (FD) presumably manifests at an early age, but epidemiological and clinical data about pediatric FD are still lacking. OBJECTIVE The authors sought to study prevalence data of FD among referrals to a child-and-adolescent consultation-liaison service (CLS). METHOD Authors conducted a retrospective survey of FD on 1,684 patients who were referred to the CLS from 1992 to 2003 (Sample I) and 12,081 patients who were treated in a tertiary-care child health center from 2003 to 2005 (Sample II). RESULTS In Sample I, FD occurred in 0.7% and, in Sample II, in 0.03% of the cases. CONCLUSION The prevalence of pediatric FD among referrals to a CLS is similar to those found in studies of adults, and patients share many clinical characteristics.