Association between long-term hospitalization for mental illness and locomotive syndrome

Patients in psychiatric care wards face serious problems in terms of declining physical function due to aging and long-term hospitalization. This study aimed to determine the current status of locomotive syndrome (LS) in long-term inpatients in psychiatric care wards and to clarify the factors associated with LS risk severity.

The study included 84 patients admitted to psychiatric care wards who underwent the LS stage test. We investigated the participants' age, length of stay, antipsychotic drug use, body mass index, and activities of daily living were assessed and analyzed the correlations between the LS stage test and each assessment item.

The participants' mean age was 60.0 ± 13.6 years, with those aged ≥60 years comprising nearly 60% of the sample. The participants' mean length of stay was 10.5 ± 12.0 years, and over half of the patients stayed >5 years: 17.9% stayed between 5 and 10 years, while 36.9% stayed ≥10 years. Nearly 90% of participants stayed for >1 year. The LS stage test showed that 60.7% of the participants were stage 3, 21.4% were stage 2, 14.3% were stage 1, and 3.6% had no risk. The results of the LS stage indicated significant correlations with age, length of stay, and the Barthel Index scores.

Patients who stay in a psychiatric care unit for a long period experience declining physical function, which is associated with aging and long-term hospitalization and might affect their activities of daily living.