Psychiatric Comorbidity and 30-Day Readmissions After Hospitalization for Heart Failure, AMI, and Pneumonia

This is an American study analysing admissions data of 160,169 patients admitted between 2009 and 2011 with a diagnosis of HF, AMI, or pneumonia. [1] Approximately 18% of all individuals with hospitalizations for HF, AMI, and pneumonia were readmitted within 30 days. The rate of readmission was 5% greater for individuals with psychiatric comorbidity compared…

Elective surgical patients with comorbid severe mental illness have worse surgical outcomes and incur higher costs compared with the general surgical population

A retrospective cohort study involving elective overnight surgical patients aged 18 years and above who attended a large public tertiary referral hospital in Sydney, Australia, between 2010 and 2014 analysed the impact that severe mental illness (SMI) had on outcomes. [1] Of 23 343 surgical patient admissions, 451 (2%) patients had decompensated comorbid SMI with…

Mental health problems are associated with substantially higher resource utilization and health care costs in patients with chronic diseases

A population-based cohort study of 991 445 Canadian adults, including 156 296 with a mental health diagnosis, 3-year adjusted mean costs were $38 250 for those with and $22 280 for those without a mental health disorder, a 71.7% increase. [1] Presence of psychiatric comorbidity was associated with higher rates of hospitalization and emergency department visits, including when considering…