Risk of rehospitalization of psychotic patients. A 6-year follow-up investigation using the survival approach

Risk of rehospitalization was investigated in 100 former psychiatric inpatients with ICD-9 diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizoaffective and affective psychosis in a 6- to 7-year interval following discharge. Subtype of disorder, aftercare characteristics, previous course of illness and specific sociodemographic factors were hypothesized to predict the probability of readmissions to a hospital. For time-related statistical analyses the survival approach and proportional hazards model were used. The risk of rehospitalization varies considerably between the diagnostic subgroups studied, depending on the length of the observation period chosen. Schizophrenics had the highest risk (after 3 years 66%, 6 years 80%), followed by schizoaffective patients (58 and 65%) and affective psychosis patients (41 and 58%). Aftercare in a short defined period after discharge from the hospital reduced significantly the risk of readmission for patients with an affective psychosis and patients who were married. Former rehospitalization increases the risk of a readmission. Severity of psychopathological features had only minor predictive value.