Prevalence and predictors of involuntary psychiatric hospital admissions in Ontario, Canada: a population-based linked administrative database study

Background — Involuntary admissions to psychiatric hospitals are common; however, research examining the trends in prevalence over time and predictors is limited.

Aims — Examine trends in prevalence and risk factors for involuntary admissions in Ontario, Canada.

Methods — We conducted an analysis of all mental health bed admissions from 2009-2013 and assessed the association between patient sociodemographic, service utilization, pathway to care and severity characteristics with involuntary admissions using a modified Poisson regression.

Results — We found a high and increasing prevalence of involuntary admissions (70.7% in 2009, 77.1% in 2013, 74.1% overall). Individuals with police contact in the prior week (RR = 1.20) and immigrants both experienced greater likelihood of being involuntarily admitted regardless of control for other characteristics (RR = 1.07) (both p<0.0001).

Conclusions — We identified numerous modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors for involuntary admissions. The prevalence of involuntary admissions was high, linearly increasing over time.