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Short stay vs long stay postpartum psychiatric admissions: a population-based study

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Abstract

About 1–2/1000 of postpartum women require psychiatric admission. Length of stay is variable, and little is known about short postpartum admission. From all women in Ontario, Canada, with a psychiatric admission within 1 year postpartum (2007–2012) (n = 1702), we compared women with admissions <72 h to women with longer admissions on sociodemographics, clinical characteristics and post-discharge mental health service use. About 37% of admissions were <72 h. These women were more likely to be adolescents (11.7 vs 7.3%), less likely to be employed (16.6 vs 25.9%) compared to women with longer admissions, and fewer had a prior history of psychiatric admission (16.7 vs 59.0%). Index diagnoses of alcohol or substance use (12.5 vs 7.8%) and adjustment disorders (15.8 vs 6.3%) were more common in the short vs longer stay group; psychotic (5.8 vs 19.5%) and bipolar disorders (2.1 vs 14.2%) were less common. Women with short admission were at higher crude risk for ED revisit 7 days post-discharge (11.4 vs 4.9% OR2.52, 95% CI1.74–3.66) and at lower adjusted risk for readmission at 365 days post-discharge (19.5 vs 28.8%, aOR 0.63, 95% CI 0.46–0.85). Women with short stay postpartum admissions are a clinically distinct group that may benefit from targeted intervention.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Reproductive Life Stages Program, Women’s Mental Health Program, Women’s College Hospital, 76 Grenville street Rm. 7234, Toronto, ON, M5S 1B2, Canada

    Inbal Shlomi-Polachek & Simone N. Vigod

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Inbal Shlomi-Polachek & Simone N. Vigod

  3. Women’s College Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Kinwah Fung & Simone N. Vigod

  4. Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, Toronto, ON, Canada

    Kinwah Fung & Simone N. Vigod

  5. UNC Center for Women’s Mood Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, University of North-Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Samantha Meltzer-Brody & Simone N. Vigod

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  1. Inbal Shlomi-Polachek
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  2. Kinwah Fung
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  3. Samantha Meltzer-Brody
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  4. Simone N. Vigod
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Correspondence to Simone N. Vigod.

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The Research Ethics Board at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Ontario approved the study (ICES Logged Project: 20150904328000).

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Funding information

This research was funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) (grant number: 120267). It was also supported by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), which is funded by an annual grant from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC). The opinions, results and conclusions reported in this paper are those of the authors and are independent from the funding sources. No endorsement by ICES or the Ontario MOHLTC is intended or should be inferred. Parts of this material are based on data and information compiled and provided by the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI). However, the analyses, conclusions, opinions and statements expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of CIHI.

Conflict of interest

This research was funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) (grant number: 120267). It was also supported by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES), which is funded by an annual grant from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC). The opinions, results and conclusions reported in this paper are those of the authors and are independent from the funding sources. No endorsement by ICES or the Ontario MOHLTC is intended or should be inferred. Parts of this material are based on data and information compiled and provided by the Canadian Institute of Health Information (CIHI). However, the analyses, conclusions, opinions and statements expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of CIHI.

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Shlomi-Polachek, I., Fung, K., Meltzer-Brody, S. et al. Short stay vs long stay postpartum psychiatric admissions: a population-based study. Arch Womens Ment Health 20, 505–513 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-017-0733-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-017-0733-x

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