Summary
A nationwide random sample of psychiatric patients (n = 832) admitted for hospitalization in Israel in 1980 was followed up until the end of 1984 regarding their hospitalization patterns. Information about hospitalizations as well as demographic and diagnostic data were obtained from the Israel Central Psychiatric Case Register. Two main contrasting patterns of hospitalization emerged. One pattern consisted of a single short hospitalization during the entire follow-up period. This pattern was found among more than 50% of those patients for whom this hospitalization was the first in their life. The second pattern characterized the patients who accumulated long periods of inpatient stay, that is, at least one year during the follow-up period. These are the “new chronic” patients (about 30% of the total sample). About one third of these “new chronic” patients (8.2% of the total sample) accumulated their long stay through one continuous hospitalization, thus resembling the “old chronic” patients; two-thirds accumulated their long stay over several hospitalizations. Each patient has a fairly constant pattern of hospitalization, regarding the length of stay in hospital and out of hospital.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Annual report of psychiatric admissions and discharges (1986) Ministry of Health, Department of Information and Evaluation, Jerusalem (in Hebrew)
Fryers T (1974) New long-stay inpatients. Psychiatr Q 48: 526–530
Goldman HH, Adams NH, Taube CA (1983) Deinstitutionalization: the data demythologized. Hosp Community Psychiatry 34:129–134
Goldman HH, Gattozzi AA, Taube CA (1981) Defining and counting the chronically mentally ill. Hosp Community Psychiatry 32: 21–27
Hafner H (1985) Changing patterns of mental health care. Acta Psychiatr Scand 71 [Suppl 319]: 151–164
Hafner H (1987) Do we still need beds for psychiatric patients? Acta Psychiatr Scand 75: 113–126
Kastrup M (1985) Characteristics of a nationwide cohort of psychiataric patients - with special reference to the elderly and the chronically admitted. Acta Psychiatr Scand 71 [Suppl 319]: 107–115
Lee E, Desu M (1972) A computer program for comparing K samples with right-censored data. Comput Programs Biomed 2: 315–321
Manderscheid RW, Witkin MJ, Rosenstein MJ, Milazzo-Sayre LJ, Bethel HE, Mac Askill RL (1985) Specialty mental health services. System and patient characteristics - United States. In: Taube CA, Barrett SA (eds) “Mental Health, United States 1985”. DHHS Pub. No. (ADM) 85-1378, Washington, DC: Supt. of Docs., US Govt. Print. Off., 7–69
Platman SR, Karahasan A, Booker TC (1983) The new longterm patient in the public mental hospital. Am J Psychiatry 140: 606–608
Popper M (1983) Length of hospitalization of patients released from psychiatric hospitals in 1981. Ministry of Health, Mental Health Services, Department of Information and Evaluation. Stat Rep No 4 (in Hebrew)
Rahav M, Popper M, Nahon D (1981) The psychiatric case register of Israel: initial results. Isr J Psychiatry Relat Sci 18: 251–267
Rosenblatt A, Mayer J (1974) The recidivism of mental patients. Am J Orthopsychiatry 44: 697–706
Rud J, Noreik K (1982) Who become long-stay patients in a psychiatric hospital? Acta Psychiatr Scand 65: 1–14
Schatzberg AF, Cole JO (1986) Manual of clinical psychopharmacology. American Psychiatric Press, Inc. Washington
Talbott J (1979) Desinstitutionalization: avoiding the disasters of the past. Hosp Community Psychiatry 30: 621–624
Weeke A, Munk-Jorgensen, Stromgen E, Dupont A (1986) Changes in utilization of Danish psychiatric institutions, I. An outline of the period Compr Psychiatry (1957–1982) 27: 407
Weinstein AS, Dipasquale D, Winsor F (1973) Relationship between length of stay in and out of the New York State mental hospitals. Am J Psychiatry 130: 904–909
Zilber N, Popper M, Lerner Y (in press) Patterns and correlates of psychiatric hospitalization in a nationwide sample, II. Correlates of length of hospitalization and length of stay out of hospital. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lerner, Y., Popper, M. & Zilber, N. Patterns and correlates of psychiatric hospitalization in a nationwide sample. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol 24, 121–126 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01788020
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01788020