Factors Related To Length Of Psychiatric Hospital Stay Of Children And Adolescents: A Nationwide Register Study

Hospital discharge register information was collected on length of stay (LOS) of all those children and adolescents less than 18 years old in psychiatric inpatient treatment in 1990 (n = 818) and 1993 (n = 958) in Finland. The predictors for LOS > 60 days included previous psychiatric inpatient treatment, involuntary treatment, and treatment in adolescent psychiatric unit. No psychiatric diagnosis was associated with shorter LOS. Girls and the under-schoolage group had significantly shorter LOS. There were only rather minor differences in LOS between different diagnostic groups.