Hospital admissions for mental disorders

Hospitalizations due to mental disorders are increasing

26/07/2011

The number of clinically treated mental illnesses has risen massively in the past, according to one of the results of the „Report Hospital 2011“ the health insurance Barmer GEK. According to the study, mental health admission has risen by 117 percent since the year 2000. The proportion of total hospital treatments has more than doubled since 1990, reports Barmer GEK.

Especially patients with depression and other affective disorders had to be treated more and more often clinically in the past ten years, according to the key statement of the Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology, on behalf of Barmer GEK
and Health Systems Research (ISEG) in Hanover „Report Hospital 2011“. Clinical indications with relevant indications increased by an alarming 117 percent and the proportion of total hospitalizations increased from 3.7 per 1,000 insured in 1990 to 8.5 per 1,000 insured in 2010.

Mental problems increasingly common ground for referral
In addition to the general increase in hospital admissions for mental health problems, especially the treatment periods for the mentally ill are a growing problem. Although total hospital treatment time has fallen by 27 percent since 1990, thanks in particular to the reduction in cardiovascular disease treatment (minus 43 percent), treatment periods for mental disorders show an opposite trend - rising by 57 percent. In terms of treatment duration, mental disorders have replaced cardiovascular disease as the most time-consuming treatment. For example, according to the Barmer GEK, 5.7 percent of all hospital treatment days last year alone accounted for depression and schizophrenia. The most frequent reason for giving the diagnosis was the following „Mental disorder due to alcohol“ determined, the Barmer GEK continues to report and evaluates this as „health concern“. Total accounts for the „Report Hospital 2011“ According to 17.1 percent of hospital days on the area of ​​mental disorders

High reintroduction rate for mental disorders
As part of the „Report Hospital 2011“ The reintroduction rates for the mentally ill, who have already had an inpatient stay, were examined more closely. The experts from the Institute for Social Medicine, Epidemiology and Health Systems Research (ISEG) from Hanover found that about 30 percent of all patients in the first two years after in-patient treatment had to be hospitalized again under the same mental diagnosis. Forty-nine percent of former patients are being returned to hospital for diagnosis of any mental disorder within the two-year period, reports Barmer GEK. The re-admissions in the first month after a hospital stay are particularly frequent. Approximately one-third of re-admissions occur within the first 30 days of discharge and around half of re-admissions become necessary in the first three months after hospitalization, the statement said „Report Hospital 2011“.

Expansion of outpatient care for the mentally ill
According to the Barmer boss Dr. Rolf-Ulrich Schlenker one of the reasons for a stronger expansion of outpatient or semi-inpatient care for the mentally ill. According to Schlenker, not every case is hospitalized anyway and full-time care is not always the best solution. The head of the Barmer advocated a stronger local care of patients with mental disorders. „Nowhere else are individual treatment concepts and cross-sectoral approaches more urgent than in the field of mental illness“, stressed Schlenker. The current findings of the „Report Hospital 2011“ According to the report, every German is hospitalized for an average of two days a year during his or her lifetime, whereby the health insurance companies incur a yearly cost of 744 euros per insured person. (Fp)

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Picture credits: Gerd Altmann