Both figures declined for elderly patients.
“Rising hospitalization rates for youth more likely correspond to clinical need than overuse . . . ,” wrote Blader online August 1 in the Archives of General Psychiatry. Rates for children rose from 156/100,000 in 1996 to 283/100,000 in 2007. For adolescents, they rose from 684 to 969, and for adults from 921 to 995 (all rates are per 100,000 population).
Total inpatient days for children rose from 1,845/100,000 in 1996 to 4,370 in 2007, and for adolescents from 5,882 to 8,247.
The increase in psychiatric hospital use came as reimbursement rates fell, the number of beds in psychiatric facilities decreased, and spending on psychiatric medications increased, said Blader.
Read more on psychiatric hospitalization in Psychiatric News at http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/3/13.2.full.
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