Prevalence and associated factors of readmission among patients with psychiatric disorders attending psychiatry outpatient department at jimma medical center, jimma, southwest Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: Admission is a valuable tool for stabilizing worsening psychiatric conditions, resuming discontinued drug regimens, and assisting individuals in transitioning to outpatient and community-based services. Severe mental disorders also have a chronic relapsing course that necessitates readmissions. Recurrent clinical readmissions strain the health-care system and increase the cost of treatment. A higher readmission rate is typically associated with inadequate inpatient psychiatric services. Even though high number of patients are readmitted repeatedly as seen in the mental clinics, there is no adequately available published documents showing its magnitude and contributing factors in Ethiopia. Objective: To assess prevalence and associated factors of readmission among patient with psychiatric disorders attending psychiatry outpatient department at Jimma medical center, Jimma, southwest Ethiopia, 2021 Methods: we did Institutional based cross sectional study among 415 study participants selected by using consecutive sampling technique. A structured and interviewer administered questionnaire and medical chart review were used to collect the data. Data was entered into Epi data manager version 4.6 and exported to SPSS software version 25.0 for analysis. Bivariate logistic regression analysis was performed and variables with p-value < 0.25 were considered as candidates for multivariable logistic regression. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were done and statistically significant association between dependent and independent variables was declared at P<0.05 and 95% CI. Result: A total of 415 patients were participated in the study. The prevalence of readmission was 216(52.0%) 95% Cl (47, 57). Male gender AOR= 2.279 95% Cl (1.405, 3.697), diagnosis of schizophrenia AOR=3.4,95% Cl(1.836,6.225), non-adherence to medications, AOR=2.4,95%Cl(1.349,4.309), longer length of stay(>60 days), AOR=3.012 95% Cl (1.411, 14.798) , duration of illness AOR=1.305 95% Cl (1.202,1.416) , and having of suicidal ideation and behavior, AOR=4.8,95% Cl(1.644, 14.102,) were significantly associated with readmission. Conclusion and recommendation: This research demonstrated that readmission is high. Being male, diagnosis of schizophrenia, longer length of stay, poor medication adherence, duration of illness and suicidal ideation and behavior were associated with readmission. Enhancement of early detection and comprehensive treatment with continual assessment of treatment regimen of patients with mental illness required from responsible bodies and circle of patients.