title: Patients leaving against medical advice: an inpatient psychiatric hospital-based study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the frequency of patients leaving against medical advice (LAMA) in an inpatient psychiatric facility in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Institute of Psychiatry, Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi, from August 2010 to February 2011.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients who got admitted during study period irrespective of duration of illness and mode of admission were recruited through non-probability consecutive sampling and followed till discharge to determine their mode of leaving hospital. A thirteen-item proforma was developed and information was obtained on demographic, socioeconomic, patient related and disease related variables. Descriptive statistics were calculated on SPSS 14.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The total number (n) of participants was 246. Among the participants, 96 (39%) left against medical advice (LAMA) whereas 150 (61%) left on regular discharge on physician's advice. Frequency of patients who left against medical advice was found to be more in males (63.5%), younger age groups (21 - 30 years), lesser educated (more than half were under matric) and with the ICD-10 diagnosis of substance abuse (23.9%). About half of patients who LAMA had a prior history of psychiatric illness and a significant number (37.5%) had a history of previous psychiatric admission.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Leaving against medical advice is a frequent problem in psychiatric inpatients and is a matter of great concern for the treating doctors.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychiatry, Benazir Bhutto Hospital, Rawalpindi. aaliah_hayat@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Aalia Akhtar
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Hayat
authors.forename: Muhammad Munir
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: Fareed Aslam
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Minhas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010351:Patient Discharge / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016312:Treatment Refusal / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult