[Mental capacity and capacity to consent: multicentric study in a involuntary psychiatric hospitalized patients sample].

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this longitudinal observational study is to evaluate the course and impact of clinical, social, and behavioral variables on the involuntary readmission of psychiatric patients, during a 6-months follow-up after discharge from a prior involuntary hospitalization.

METHODS: N=131 involuntarily committed psychiatric patients were enrolled in three university hospitals (Bari n=57; Perugia n=42; Rome n=32). At the first assessment cognitive functioning (MMSE), psychiatric symptoms severity (BPRS-E), capacity to consent to treatment (MacCAT-T) as well as principal socio-demographic and clinical variables were collected. At 6-months follow-up, we collected data concerning involuntary psychiatric readmissions, pharmacotherapy adherence, new deliberate self-harm or harm to others as well as having been legally prosecuted.

RESULTS: N=120 patients were reevaluated at follow-up (M=188 days, SD=12.6); among these n=15 (12.5%) have had a new involuntary psychiatric admission due to an acute mental disorder. Re-hospitalized patients showed higher rates of harm to others (p<0.05) and legal prosecution (p<0.05); there was moreover a trend toward higher pharmacological dropout rates in involuntarily rehospitalized patients. We found no differences between the two groups in baseline psychiatric symptoms severity and cognitive functioning, whereas involuntary re-hospitalization was associated with more frequent involuntary hospitalization during last year (p<0.05) and higher MacCAT-T reasoning (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Involuntary psychiatric readmission rates proved to be poorly associated with clinical features assessed during previous hospitalization. Our data suggest that social and legal factors, including those connected to patients' dangerousness, could play a role also in a civil commitment system based solely on the need for treatment.