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Predictors of psychiatric re‐hospitalization in older adults with severe mental illness
Author(s) -
Yu Ching,
Sylvestre JeanDaniel,
Segal Marilyn,
Looper Karl J.,
Rej Soham
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.4361
Subject(s) - mental illness , psychiatry , medicine , medline , severity of illness , gerontology , mental health , political science , law
Objective Many patients with severe recurrent mental illness are approaching late life; however, little is known about psychiatric re‐hospitalization in this population. Our objective was to identify predictors of psychiatric re‐hospitalization. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study of all 226 geriatric patients (age ≥65 years) admitted to a tertiary care Canadian inpatient psychiatric unit between 2003 and 2008. The main outcome was psychiatric re‐hospitalization in 5‐year follow‐up post‐discharge (e.g. 2008–2013 if a patient had been first admitted in 2008). Multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to identify potential predictors of re‐hospitalization. Results Over 5‐year follow‐up, 32.3% (73/226) required psychiatric re‐hospitalization. Prior lifetime history of psychiatric admission, currently living in a supervised setting and bipolar disorder diagnosis all independently predicted a lower time to psychiatric re‐hospitalization (HRs > 2.0, p < 0.05). Conclusions The rate of psychiatric re‐hospitalization is high in older adults admitted for severe mental illness. Clinicians should be aware of the especially high rates of re‐hospitalization in geriatric psychiatric inpatients with bipolar disorder, previous psychiatric admissions, or those living in a supervised setting. Future research could investigate approaches to prevent psychiatric re‐hospitalization in these vulnerable sub‐populations. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.