Clinical Correlates of Medical Consultation Requests in a Psychiatric Inpatient Hospital Setting
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.71350/jclp.22Keywords:
Comorbidity, Consultation, Inpatient, Psychiatric careAbstract
Objective: Medical comorbidity is common among psychiatric inpatients and contributes to morbidity and premature mortality. However, data on non-psychiatric medical consultations requested for patients hospitalized in psychiatric specialty hospitals are limited. We aimed to determine the frequency and distribution of medical consultation requests and to identify clinical correlates of consultation presence among inpatients in a tertiary psychiatric specialty hospital.
Method: In this single-center retrospective observational study, medical records of inpatients hospitalized between January 1 and March 31, 2025 were reviewed. Consultation presence was defined as at least one consultation request to any non-psychiatric medical specialty during the index hospitalization. Group comparisons were performed by consultation status, and independent determinants of consultation presence were evaluated using multivariable logistic regression.
Results: Among 399 inpatients, 37.3% (n = 149) had at least one medical consultation request. Patients with consultation requests were older than those without consultation requests (median age, 41 vs 33 years), had a longer duration of psychiatric illness (10 vs 6.5 years), and had a longer length of stay (25 vs 21 days; all p < 0.001). The most commonly consulted specialties were internal medicine (40.9%) and neurology (18.1%). The most common consultation reason was laboratory evaluation (25.5%), mainly due to abnormal routine tests or further workup. In multivariable analysis, older age, a higher number of prior psychiatric hospitalizations, and longer length of stay were independently associated with consultation presence.
Conclusion: Over one-third of psychiatric inpatients in a tertiary psychiatric specialty hospital required at least one non-psychiatric medical consultation request. Consultation presence clustered in patients with higher clinical complexity indicators (older age, more prior hospitalizations, and prolonged length of stay), supporting the need for structured physical health assessment pathways and timely access to medical specialties in psychiatric inpatient care.
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