ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Schizophrenia
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1593653
Predictors for readmission risk in schizophrenia: Insights from a Saudi Arabian cohort
Provisionally accepted
- 1Population Health Management, Jeddah First Health Cluster, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- 2Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
- 3Psychiatry Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
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The readmission of individuals with schizophrenia to inpatient care can pose significant challenges and disturb the lives of both patients and their families, as well as the functioning of mental health care systems. Despite the growing prevalence of schizophrenia, there is limited research focused on the predictors of readmission within the Saudi Arabian context. Objectives: The primary objective of this research is to assess the readmission rate for patients who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, as well as to determine the associations between sociodemographic factors and the risk of readmission for these patients. Methodology: In a retrospective cohort study, 145 individuals who were admitted to the Eradah and Mental Health complex in Jeddah since July 1st to December 31st in 2018 were recruited. Data on socio-demographic characteristics, medical history, medication adherence, and follow-up care were analyzed to determine their association with one-year readmission rates. Results: Findings revealed that male participants comprise 84.8% of the sample size. Moreover, 5.5% of the patients were employed, with the larger proportion being unemployed. The overall one-year readmission rate was 36.6%. The Key predictor of readmission included the number of previous admissions, length of hospital stay and frequency of outpatient follow-up visits. After controlling to other variables in a multivariate model, the length of stay was not statistically significant, despite appearing to be related to readmission in the unadjusted analysis. The probability of readmission was significantly increased by inadequate follow-up, illustrating the vital role of continuous post-discharge care Conclusions: According to recent research, improving the transfer from inpatient psychiatric care to outpatient care may lower the risk of readmissions and prevent future hospitalization. The results emphasize the importance of specific treatments in minimizing readmission rates among schizophrenia patients in Saudi Arabia.
Keywords: Patient Readmission, Schizophrenia, Mental Health, Length of Stay, Retrospective Studies, Psychiatric department, Saudi Arabia
Received: 14 Mar 2025; Accepted: 08 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Alharthi, Al-Raddadi and Alfakeh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sulhi Alfakeh, Psychiatry Division, Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
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