2025 Volume 53 Issue 1 Pages 1-8
This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients involuntarily admitted to the psychiatric unit of a university hospital without an emergency psychiatric inpatient ward. We retrospectively analyzed 22 patients (0.53% of 4,133 total admissions) involuntarily admitted to our neuropsychiatric ward between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2020. The findings revealed that 59.1% of the patients were diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and 59% of them were at risk of harming others. Additionally, 63.6% were transferred from other psychiatric facilities, and 59.1% required treatment of physical comorbidities, primarily endocrine disorders. The median duration until lifting of involuntary hospitalization was 30 days, with 54.5% of patients being transferred to other facilities and 45.5% being discharged from our hospital and went home. No significant associations were found between the outcomes and factors, such as transfer status, presence of physical comorbidities, and multiple involuntary hospitalizations. Although our facility predominantly treats patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and physical comorbidities who were transferred from other institutions and approximately 40% of the patients in this study were discharged from our hospital, we could not identify specific factors that significantly influenced patient outcomes.
