Epidemiology of absconding from an Iranian psychiatric centre

Absconding by psychiatric patients from acute psychiatric wards has been a significant problem for some time. This study was conducted to identify the incidence rate of absconding in a psychiatric hospital and some of the characteristics of patients who had escaped from hospital in year 2006. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, all of absconds in our centre have been registered in the period of 9 months. We assessed patients' age, gender, marital status, hospital stay, substance abuse, psychiatric diagnosis and site of absconding. A total of 43 cases of absconding have been registered in this period, attempted by 35 patients, with the incidence rate of 3% in our centre. The mean age of absconders was 31.7 years; 95.3% of absconds were made by men; 67.4% were single; 37.4% absconded through the main door; 62.8% of our absconders had bipolar mood disorder or schizophrenia; mean in hospital stay before absconding was 18.4 days; and 53.5% of absconds were attempted by substance users. Absconders utilize a significant portion of hospital resources and have an adverse effect on ward milieu. It seems that the patients who are more prone to abscond are male, young, single, addict, with the diagnosis of bipolar mood disorder or schizophrenia and patients who are admitted not long ago.