title: Demographic and clinical characteristics as predictors of readmission: a one-year follow-up.
abstract: Follows up an earlier investigation in which demographic and clinical characteristics of psychiatric patients were used to predict readmission within 3 months of discharge. In the initial study, stepwise multiple regression analysis identified six variables as the optimal set of predictors for readmission within 3 months of discharge: type of discharge, number of prior psychiatric hospitalizations, race, suicide attempt within 1 month of admission, subjective report of depression upon admission, and occupational level (R = .452). In the present study the same sample was followed up at 1 year after discharge, and demographic and clinical variables were used to predict readmission within 1 year of discharge. Stepwise multiple regression analysis identified three variables as the optimal set of predictors for readmission within 1 year of discharge: past history of suicidal behavior, subjective report of depression upon admission, and number of prior psychiatric hospitalizations. Changes in predictors as a function of length of follow-up period are considered, and implications of the findings for identifying high-risk readmission candidates are discussed.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005006:Ethnicity; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis; D009790:Occupations; D010359:Patient Readmission; D011336:Probability; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000523:psychology