Patterns of Care Consumption after Compulsory Admission: A Five-Year Follow-Up to the Amsterdam Study of Acute Psychiatry VIII

:Significant numbers of involuntary admissions and the fact that compulsory hospitalization is a drastic intervention in a patient’s life justify the introduction of preventive measures. This study looks at the five-year outcome of involuntary admissions after psychiatric emergency consultations in Amsterdam. A cohort of 460 involuntarily admitted patients was investigated prospectively. The annual numbers of involuntary readmissions and the utilization of mental health services were studied, with sociodemographic and clinical characteristics and psychiatric history as predictors. The odds ratios for involuntary readmission during the fourth and fifth follow-up years were 0.71 (95%CI = 0.50–1.01; P = 0.059) and 0.64 (95%CI = 0.45–0.92; P = 0.015), respectively. Readmission was associated with low discontinuity of treatment (Chi2 P ≤ 0.001) and high total consumption of services (Chi2 P ≤ 0.001) during follow-up. It emerged that involuntary readmission could be predicted on the basis of high care consumption five years before inclusion (OR 2.61 CI 1.44–4.73; P 0.002), a history of involuntary admission (OR 1.56 CI = 1.03–2.35; P = 0.034), being older than 44 years at baseline (OR 0.57 CI = 0.39–0.84; P = 0.007), and living alone (OR 1.68 CI = 1.22–02.33; P = 0.002). The risk of involuntary readmission declines after three years. In Amsterdam, low levels of treatment discontinuity and high levels of service use do not seem to reduce this risk for patients with severe and persistent psychiatric disorders. Our findings should be an incentive to explore and reappraise the methods employed in our current system of community mental health care.