Factors associated with frequent admissions to an acute geriatric psychiatric inpatient unit

As a first step toward developing strategies to reduce the frequency of psychiatric hospitalizations, the authors retrospectively collected and analyzed demographic and clinical variables from 424 consecutive admissions to a university-based geriatric psychiatry inpatient unit over a 20-month period. The study sample was dichotomized into patients who were admitted more than one time (35.6%) versus those with a single admission. Factors associated with rehospitalization were examined with multivariate logistic regression analysis. The great majority of readmissions (81%) occurred in the first 3 months after discharge. The logistic regression model indicated that significant predictors of rehospitalization were single relationship status, male gender, and bipolar disorder diagnosis. Our findings overlap with findings from previous similar studies and suggest that information readily obtainable on admission to an acute geriatric psychiatry inpatient unit may provide a useful indication of risk for frequent psychiatric hospitalizations and may contribute to readmission prevention strategies.