<![CDATA[Repeated psychiatric hospitalization is common among individuals with mental illness and reflects the recurrent of psychiatric disorders. This study described the frequency, pattern, and timing of previous psychiatric hospitalizations among psychiatric inpatients. A retrospective descriptive study was conducted using medical records of patients admitted to psychiatric hospital. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, previous psychiatric hospitalizations, and outpatient follow-up adherence were extracted from medical records. The frequency of previous hospitalizations during 2021-2023 period was summarized descriptively, and intervals between consecutive hospital admissions were described using Kaplan–Meier survival analysis. Of 268 patients, 67 (25.0%) had at least one previous psychiatric hospitalization. Short-interval hospitalizations were uncommon, with 2.7% occurring within 30 days and 2.7% occurring between 31 and 90 days. Longer intervals were more frequent, with 5.5% occurring between 91 and 180 days, 7.5% between 181 and 365 days, and 12.7% occurring more than one year after the previous hospitalization. The median interval between the first and second admissions was 345 days, decreasing to 147, 135, and 63 days for subsequent admissions, indicating progressively shorter intervals between consecutive hospitalizations. Schizophrenia was the most common diagnosis, and patients with previous hospitalizations were predominantly young adult males, unemployed, unmarried, had low educational attainment, and frequently demonstrated poor outpatient follow-up adherence. One-quarter of psychiatric inpatients had a history of previous hospitalization. Although longer hospitalization intervals were more common than early previous admissions, intervals between consecutive hospitalizations shortened with increasing numbers of admissions.]]>
