title: A prospective study of patients absconding from a psychiatric hospital in Iran.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the motivation and characteristics of patients absconding from a psychiatric ward in Iran.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective study was conducted for patients who absconded from psychiatric ward in the period between July 2010 and July 2011. The variables were patients' age, gender, hospital stay, substance abuse, psychiatric diagnosis and site of absconding. All patients were interviewed to assess their motivation for absconding.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Over a one-year period of data collection 56 absconding events were recorded, with the incidence rate of 4.24%. The mean age of absconders was 31+8.4 years, 47 (83.9%) absconders were males, 28 (50.9%) absconds happened through the park fence. Bipolar mood disorder or schizophrenia was the diagnosis of 23 (41%) absconders. The mean number of days of hospitalization in patients who left the wards was 11 days. The main motivation to abscond was boredom from the ward environment and missing the family.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The risk of absconding is highest in the early days of admission especially in male, young patients with diagnosis of bipolar mood disorder or schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran. fmoonesi@mazums.ac.ir
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sheikhmoonesi
authors.forename: Azar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kabirzadeh
authors.forename: Seyyed
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Taha Yahyavi
authors.forename: Benyamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mohseni
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D010352:Patient Dropouts; D016312:Treatment Refusal / Q000523:psychology