Psychiatric symptom severity and length of stay on an intensive rehabilitation unit

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of psychiatric symptoms in the medical and surgical rehabilitation of patients on an intensive reha bilitation unit and to examine whether psychiatric symptom severity contrib utes to length of hospital stay (LOS). Forty-four patients (21 men and 23 w omen) were assessed at admission and before discharge with the Functional I ndependence Measure (FIM). Subjects were evaluated with the Mini-Mental Sta te Exam (MMSE) the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (Ham-D), Positive a nd Negative Symptom Scale, (PANSS), and Scale for the Assessment of Negativ e Symptoms (SANS). Thirty-six percent of subjects were cognitively impaired (MMSE<25), 14% had significant depressive symptoms (Ham D>12), and 52% had significant negative symptomatology (PANSS-N>15). A regression analysis yi elded a model of three predictive factors. Gender, the PANSS General subsca le, and the SANS Attention subscale accounted for 42.4% of LOS variance. Th ese results indicate that psychiatric symptoms are common in medical rehabi litation inpatients and, together with demographic factors, are associated with increased LOS.