Premium
Correlates of readmission risk and readmission days in a large psychiatric hospital in G uangzhou, C hina
Author(s) -
Zhou Yanling,
Ning Yuping,
Fan Ni,
Mohamed Somaia,
Rosenheck Robert A.,
He Hongbo
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
asia‐pacific psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.654
H-Index - 21
eISSN - 1758-5872
pISSN - 1758-5864
DOI - 10.1111/appy.12096
Subject(s) - medicine , hospital readmission , psychiatric hospital , hospital discharge , proportional hazards model , china , illness severity , emergency medicine , psychiatry , psychiatric diagnosis , severity of illness , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , intensive care medicine , political science , law
For many patients with psychiatric disorders, the course of illness is characterized by frequent relapses, resulting to re‐hospitalization and high costs. While the correlates of readmission have been extensively studied in developed countries, few studies have examined readmission in low‐ and middle‐income countries where bed supply is limited. Methods Using administrative data from the G uangzhou P sychiatric H ospital ( GPH ), we used C ox regression models to evaluate the relationship among age, gender, index length of stay ( LOS ), and the number of previous admissions to post‐discharge readmission risk. Linear regression is used to evaluate predictors of total hospital days during the year after the index discharge. Results Between A pril 1, 2010 and M arch 31, 2011, 2,525 patients were discharged with I nternational C lassification of D iseases, 10th R evision psychiatric diagnoses from GPH , with an average LOS of 64.2 (SD = 69.0), and 317 (12.4%) were readmitted in the following year. Survival analysis showed older age ( P < 0.05), and the number of previous hospitalizations ( P < 0.01) were significant predictors of the risk of readmission but not diagnosis or LOS . The number of previous admissions was the only predictor of total bed days of psychiatric care at GPH in the year following the initial discharge. Discussion Shortened LOS was not associated with increased readmission risk or post‐discharge hospital days. Rather, the number of past hospitalizations was the major predictor of both readmission risk and post‐discharge hospital days of psychiatric care, and such patients deserve special attention. Lowering LOS may be justified, allowing funds to be redeployed to outpatient or community‐based care.