Factors affecting time to rehospitalization in Han Chinese patients with schizophrenic disorder in Taiwan

Schizophrenic disorder is a lifelong illness. Hospitalization is a major event for the patient and his/her family, often indicating that the clinical symptoms have reached an intolerable level. The purpose of this study was to investigate the risk factors affecting the time to rehospitalization. Rehospitalization status was monitored for all schizophrenic patients discharged from Kai-Suan Psychiatric Hospital from January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2002. Patients were followed-up regarding rehospitalization until December 31, 2003. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the mean time to rehospitalization. Risk factors associated with rehospitalization were examined by Cox proportional hazards regression model. Three hundred and thirty-six patients were recruited for this study. The mean time to rehospitalization was 239 +/- 7 days, with a rehospitalization rate of 54.5%. The mean time to discontinuation was 329 +/- 5 days. Age at onset (hazard ratio = 0.978, 95% CI = 0.959-0.998, p = 0.031) and the number of previous hospitalizations (hazard ratio = 1.108, 95% CI = 1.058-1.161, p < 0.001) were found to be risk factors of shorter time to rehospitalization within 1 year after discharge. Further research should be carried out to test risk factors in a prospective study, and to assess the cost-effectiveness of interventions to prevent rehospitalization.