Evenson R C, Holland R A, Cho D W
Missouri Institute of Mental Health, University of Missouri School of Medicine, St. Louis 63139.
Hosp Community Psychiatry. 1994 Oct;45(10):1021-5. doi: 10.1176/ps.45.10.1021.
The authors' goal was to compare distribution of diagnoses, length of stay, and readmission rates for every 16th patient admitted to the St. Louis County Insane Asylum (now St. Louis State Hospital) between 1886 and 1904 with those for every 16th patient admitted to the hospital between 1978 and 1980.
A sample of 369 cases was drawn from the archival admission records, and 380 cases were selected from recent admissions. Descriptive data from the archival records were used to make DSM-III diagnoses. Data on length of stay and number of readmissions were collected from case records.
The historical sample had fewer cases of major mental illness, longer mean lengths of stay, and fewer mean readmissions than the modern sample.
Differences in the clinical characteristics of the two samples may be explained by differences between the two periods in treatment philosophies, admitting policies, and presence of alternative resources for accommodating long-term chronic patients.
作者的目标是比较1886年至1904年间每16名入住圣路易斯县精神病院（现为圣路易斯州立医院）的患者与1978年至1980年间每16名入住该医院的患者的诊断分布、住院时间和再入院率。
从档案入院记录中抽取369例样本，并从近期入院患者中选取380例。利用档案记录中的描述性数据进行DSM-III诊断。从病例记录中收集住院时间和再入院次数的数据。
历史样本中重度精神疾病的病例较少，平均住院时间较长，平均再入院次数少于现代样本。
两个样本临床特征的差异可能是由于两个时期在治疗理念、入院政策以及为长期慢性病患者提供替代资源方面的差异所致。
