Acute care hospital days and mental diagnoses

Data from the Discharge Abstract Database of the Canadian Institute for Health Information were used to examine acute care hospital days for patients with a mental condition coded as the most responsible diagnosis or a comorbid diagnosis. In 2009/2010, patients with a mental diagnosis represented 11.8% of people who had been hospitalized and 25.5% of acute care hospital days. Those for whom the mental condition was the most responsible diagnosis accounted for 9.0% of hospital days (1.2 million), and those with a comorbid mental diagnosis accounted for 16.5% of hospital days (2.3 million). Mental diagnoses were often associated with physical conditions. The average hospitalization with a mental diagnosis was two and a half times as long as the average for hospitalizations without a mental diagnosis. About one-quarter of hospital days with a mental diagnosis were designated as alternate level of care days.