Temporal patterns in compulsory psychiatric admissions: a four-year, nationwide registry study from Norwegian acute wards

PURPOSE: To investigate temporal patterns (by hour of day and type of day) of compulsory psychiatric admissions to Norwegian acute wards. This study fills a gap in the limited literature by separating admissions for compulsory observation and compulsory care and by using absolute admission counts, rather than proportions of voluntary admissions, to provide a more nuanced picture of temporal patterns of compulsory care. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data from the Norwegian Patient Registry from the period 2015-2018 were used to analyse 16,472 compulsory admissions. These were classified by type of admission (compulsory observation and compulsory care) and stratified by diagnosis and gender. Absolute counts of compulsory admissions were used as the outcome measure. RESULTS: Admissions were largely concentrated around office hours, with a 1-2-hour lag. Public holidays resembled weekend patterns and exhibited less diurnal variation than weekdays. By admission type, compulsory care aligned more closely with office hours than compulsory observation. Among compulsory care admissions, schizophrenia, schizotypal and delusional disorders (F20-F29) predominated. CONCLUSIONS: Temporal patterns of compulsory admissions align closely with office‑hour workflows and service availability, suggesting organisational rather than incidence‑driven timing. Our results differ from previous studies, probably due to our focus on absolute numbers rather than viewing compulsory admissions proportional to voluntary admissions. Further studies are warranted to assess whether service provision aligns with need.