Early trajectory of clinical global impression as a transdiagnostic predictor of psychiatric hospitalisation: a retrospective cohort study

Abstract

Background: Identifying patients most at risk of psychiatric hospitalisation is crucial to improving service provision and patient outcomes. Existing predictors focus on specific clinical scenarios and are not validated with real-world data, limiting their translational potential. This study aimed to determine whether early trajectories of Clinical Global Impression Severity are predictors of 6 month risk of hospitalisation.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study used data from the NeuroBlu database, an electronic health records network from 25 US mental health-care providers. Patients with an ICD-9 or ICD-10 code of major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, generalised anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, ADHD, or personality disorder were included. Using this cohort, we assessed whether clinical severity and instability (operationalised using Clinical Global Impression Severity measurements) during a 2-month period were predictors of psychiatric hospitalisation within the next 6 months.

Findings: 36 914 patients were included (mean age 29·7 years [SD 17·5]; 21 156 [57·3%] female, 15 748 [42·7%] male; 20 559 [55·7%] White, 4842 [13·1%] Black or African American, 286 [0·8%] Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, 300 [0·8%] Asian, 139 [0·4%] American Indian or Alaska Native, 524 (1·4%) other or mixed race, and 10 264 [27·8%] of unknown race). Clinical severity and instability were independent predictors of risk of hospitalisation (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1·09, 95% CI 1·07-1·10 for every SD increase in instability; 1·11, 1·09-1·12 for every SD increase in severity; p<0·0001 for both). These associations were consistent across all diagnoses, age groups, and in both males and females, as well as in several robustness analyses, including when clinical severity and clinical instability were based on the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 rather than Clinical Global Impression Severity measurements. Patients in the top half of the cohort for both clinical severity and instability were at an increased risk of hospitalisation compared with those in the bottom half along both dimensions (HR 1·45, 95% CI 1·39-1·52; p<0·0001).

Interpretation: Clinical instability and severity are independent predictors of future risk of hospitalisation, across diagnoses, age groups, and in both males and females. These findings could help clinicians make prognoses and screen patients who are most likely to benefit from intensive interventions, as well as help health-care providers plan service provisions by adding additional detail to risk prediction tools that incorporate other risk factors.

Funding: National Institute for Health and Care Research, National Institute for Health and Care Research Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre, Medical Research Council, Academy of Medical Sciences, and Holmusk.