title: Duration of hospitalization and post discharge suicide.
abstract: A retrospective cohort of discharged patients from all public psychiatric hospitals in Hong Kong (1997-1999) was linked to suicide data from Coroner's court. Patients hospitalized shorter than 15 days had significantly lower suicide rates than longer stay patients. The results were fairly consistent across immediate/late post discharge periods, gender, age, diagnoses, and narrow/wide definitions of suicide. This finding was opposite of what has been reported in the literature. Short hospitalization carried different suicide risks in different service settings.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Psychiatry, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong. hotp@ha.org.hk
authors.forename: Ting-Pong
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Ho
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006779:Hospitals, Public / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*