Timely follow-up visits after psychiatric hospitalization and readmission in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in Japan

The study objective was to investigate the association between timely follow-up visits after psychiatric hospitalization and the risk of readmission in patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using a nationwide claims database in Japan. Between April 2014 and March 2015, all psychiatric hospitalization data were obtained and patients with a principal diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder were followed up from 180 days before admission to 210 days after discharge. The primary outcome of this study was psychiatric readmission during the 180-day period (between 31 and 210 days) after the index discharge. A total of 48,579 eligible patients were identified. After psychiatric hospitalization, 15% of patients received no follow-up visits to a psychiatrist within 30 days. Patients who received follow-up visits had lower readmission rates during the subsequent 180 days (21.7% vs. 37.5%; adjusted risk ratio, 0.54 [95% confidence interval, 0.52-0.57]) than those who did not. Timely follow-up visits after discharge could be helpful for reducing the readmission risk in patients.