HOSPITAL UTILIZATION AND PERSONALITY-CHARACTERISTICS OF VETERANS WITHPSYCHIATRIC-PROBLEMS

Objective: The relationship between hospital utilization and psychomet ric, demographic, and diagnostic data was examined among veterans with psychiatric problems, Methods: Data were obtained from the records of 500 psychiatric inpatients admitted to a Veterans Affairs medical cen ter between 1984 and 1987 and followed for four years. All patients co mpleted the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, the Californi a Personality Inventory, the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, and the Psychological Inventory of Personality and Symptoms. Stepwise lin ear regression analysis was used to predict the number and length of i npatient stays, and Cox and logistic regression analyses predicted reh ospitalization. Results: Higher rates of psychiatric hospital utilizat ion were found among patients who were unmarried, who had disabilities connected with their military service, who had lower levels of adapti ve functioning, and who were diagnosed as having posttraumatic stress disorder, drug or alcohol use disorder; or passive-aggressive or antis ocial personality disorder Higher utilization was also found among tho se whom psychometric data characterized as less responsible and more c ompulsive, The data also predicted the length of subsequent medical ho spitalization and identified patients who stayed out of the hospital l onger and who were not rehospitalized, Conclusions: Hospital utilizati on was found to he a function of psychiatric diagnosis, marital status , and various personality factors, Factors relating to social disadvan tage also played a role, Axis I diagnoses, particularly substance use disorders, were as important as, if not more important than, axis II d iagnoses in predicting utilization.