Factors associated with frequent psychiatric admissions in a general hospital in Spain

Abstract

Factors associated with frequently admitted patients should be identified in order to establish more effective strategies for preventing relapse.

Internações e reinternações psiquiátricas em um hospital geral de Porto Alegre: características sociodemográficas, clínicas e do uso da Rede de Atenção Psicossocial

“…On the other hand, much higher than the ones of studies developed in Spain and Portugal, which accounted for 10% of frequent readmissions 6,11 . These differenced may be associated to disparities in the criteria of frequent readmission, as well as the way health services in these countries are organized to meet mental health demands.…”

“…This duration is even higher when compared to other studies evaluating this variable. Another study carried out in São Paulo 25 found a mean of 17.3 days and, in international ones, a mean duration between 10 and 20 days of hospitalization 6,7,11,16,21,34 . Finally, considering the variables of NPC follow-up, we highlight the data of 34.4% of participants in the study who did not follow-up before the investigated hospitalization, as well as over half the users in first hospitalization, which shows this ends up being the gateway for mental health care access.…”

“…These readmissions are characterized by different frequency criteria -number of hospitalizations and interval between them -, and there is no consensus amongst authors. A Brazilian study considers the frequency of two or more hospitalization within one year 5 , as well as some international studies 6,7 . Other authors considered three or more hospitalizations, whether in a period of 12 8 or 18 9,10 months or up to 5 years 11 .…”

“…In relation to the occurrence of frequent rehospitalizations, studies carried out in Spain 6 and in Portugal 11 found rates of 10% of readmissions of frequent users. On the other hand, a study carried out in the United States 12 showed 79.8% of these patients were new hospitalizations within the two years of follow-up of the research.…”

“…The percentage of frequent hospitalizations, considered as two or more hospitalizations within the last 12 months [5][6][7] , was 36.5% (n = 35). It was found that the group with frequent readmissions considered they could count on less people (mean = 2.03; median = 2.00), when compared to users with readmissions which did not meet this criterion (mean = 3.31; median = 3.00; p = 0.016), according to Table 2.…”