Prediction of readmission of psychiatric inpatients

Using demographic and episode-based variables this study attempted to predict which patients would require frequent psychiatric hospitalizations. Records of 943 patients were randomly selected from 14,649 admissions and examined for a 5-yr. period following initial admission. Sex, ethnicity, and age at first admission were not significantly related to readmission. Among the demographic variables, marriage was inversely related to readmission. Involuntary commitment and a longer length of stay at the original admission were associated with a higher rate of readmission. Despite the results being statistically significant, the small covariances of these effects indicate little clinical utility in the prediction of readmission for an individual patient.