Private psychiatric hospitalization of children: predictors of length of stay.

OBJECTIVE

To quantitatively identify predictors and determinants of length of psychiatric hospital stay for children.

METHOD

Forty-seven demographic, psychosocial stressor, psychopathology, and disposition variables were statistically reviewed as correlates of length of stay in 100 consecutive discharges from a child psychiatry inpatient service (age range 4-12) in a private hospital. Those with strong statistical significance were then analyzed by multiple regression.

RESULTS

Greater severity of psychopathology (measured by the Children's Global Assessment Scale), greater severity of psychosocial stressors (by Axis IV scale), diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder, special educational and out-of-home dispositions, and severe tantrums in hospital all strongly predicted longer hospital stay. Diagnosis of adjustment disorder predicted shorter stay. Together these variables explained 57% of the total variance in length of stay.

CONCLUSIONS

The most powerful of these predictor variables could potentially be measured at the time of admission, thus permitting accurate prediction of length of stay. A set of models was generated for this purpose.