Social predictors of out-patient mental health contact in schizophrenia patients

Introduction Since community-based health care was introduced, the use of mental health services by patients with serious mental disorders has been an issue of much interest. However, our knowledge of intervening factors is both scarce and partial. Objective To study socio-demographic variables which may predict time-lapse (in days) between each out-patient contact among a cohort of schizophrenia patients. Method Data comes from the South Granada Schizophrenia Case Register. We used Cox’s regression analysis to study the influence of the sociodemographic variables in the time lapsed between out-patient contacts. Results After adjusting for all other socio-demographic variables included, we found that to live in a rural area and being younger independently predicted a longer time-lapse between out-patient contacts while being retired predicted a shorter interval between such contacts. Other variables such as sex, educational level and marital status did not determine such length between out-patients contacts. Conclusion Socio-demographic variables, and not only psychopathological ones, determine mental health out-patient service use.