Deaths among former psychiatric inpatients in an outreach case management program

The mortality rate of discharged psychiatric inpatients has long been known to be higher than that of persons in the general population. This study assessed the effectiveness of outreach case management in reducing the mortality rate of recently discharged psychiatric inpatients in New York City.

A sample of 292 patients discharged from an inpatient psychiatry service at an urban general hospital were randomly assigned either to an intervention group (N = 147), which received intensive outreach case management for periods ranging from 15 to 52 months after discharge, or to a control group (N = 145), which received standard aftercare services. Both groups were offered and received regular aftercare and other services during the study period. Both groups were followed for comparable periods of time to determine their rate of mortality.

The overall mortality rate for the total group of 292 patients was 7.2 percent, 2.25 times higher than among persons in the general population matched for age, sex, and race. The mortality rates for the intervention group and the control group were 7.5 percent and 6.9 percent, respectively, not a significant difference.

Discharged psychiatric inpatients who received outreach case management did not have a lower mortality rate than similar patients who did not receive this intervention.