Five-year outcomes following psychiatric consultation to a tertiary care emergency room.

OBJECTIVE

The authors prospectively examined inpatient psychiatric hospitalization and mortality rates of psychiatric patients seen in the emergency room of a large Department of Veterans Affairs medical center.

METHOD

Charts of 504 patients receiving evening psychiatric consultation during a 13-month period were assessed 5 years after the consultation to determine rates of psychiatric hospitalization and mortality.

RESULTS

Patients with multiple psychiatric diagnoses, including comorbid addiction disorders, had significantly higher rates of psychiatric hospitalization 5 years after an emergency room visit. Comorbid psychiatric disorders increased the rate of inpatient psychiatric hospitalization across diagnoses. Seventy-eight patients died during the study period.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings reveal relationships between diagnostic profiles and future psychiatric hospitalization and mortality rates. This information could focus psychiatric and medical interventions for high-risk patients.