Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences
Volume 24, Issue 8 , Pages 408-414, August 2008

Factors Affecting Time to Rehospitalization in Han Chinese Patients With Schizophrenic Disorder in Taiwan

  • Chieh-Hsin Lin

      Affiliations

    • Kai-Suan Psychiatric Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Cheng-Chung Chen

      Affiliations

    • Kai-Suan Psychiatric Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Shing-Yaw Wang

      Affiliations

    • Department of Psychiatry, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Shih-Chi Lin

      Affiliations

    • Kai-Suan Psychiatric Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Ming-Chao Chen

      Affiliations

    • Kai-Suan Psychiatric Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Ching-Hua Lin

      Affiliations

    • Kai-Suan Psychiatric Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress correspondence and reprint requests to: Dr Ching-Hua Lin, Kai-Suan Psychiatric Hospital, 130 Kai-Suan 2nd Road, Ling-Ya District, Kaohsiung 802, Taiwan

Received 14 February 2008; accepted 8 August 2008.

Article Outline

Schizophrenic disorder is a lifelong illness. Hospitalization is a major event for the patient and his/her family, often indicating that the clinical symptoms have reached an intolerable level. The purpose of this study was to investigate the risk factors affecting the time to rehospitalization. Rehospitalization status was monitored for all schizophrenic patients discharged from Kai-Suan Psychiatric Hospital from January 1, 2002 to December 31, 2002. Patients were followed-up regarding rehospitalization until December 31, 2003. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the mean time to rehospitalization. Risk factors associated with rehospitalization were examined by Cox proportional hazards regression model. Three hundred and thirty-six patients were recruited for this study. The mean time to rehospitalization was 239 ± 7 days, with a rehospitalization rate of 54.5%. The mean time to discontinuation was 329 ± 5 days. Age at onset (hazard ratio = 0.978, 95% CI = 0.959—0.998, p = 0.031) and the number of previous hospitalizations (hazard ratio = 1.108, 95% CI = 1.058—1.161, p < 0.001) were found to be risk factors of shorter time to rehospitalization within 1 year after discharge. Further research should be carried out to test risk factors in a prospective study, and to assess the cost-effectiveness of interventions to prevent rehospitalization.

Key Words:  age at onset , comorbid alcohol abuse/dependence , number of previous hospitalizations , rehospitalization , schizophrenic disorder

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PII: S1607-551X(08)70164-5

doi:10.1016/S1607-551X(08)70164-5

Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences
Volume 24, Issue 8 , Pages 408-414, August 2008

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