Psychiatric hospitalization of older adults: Comparison of a specialty geropsychiatric unit to general psychiatric units

Using data gathered for 4,377 patients hospitalized on either a specialty geropsychiatric unit or a general psychiatric inpatient, unit, over a six year period (1982-1987), the present study compares younger patients to older patients on diagnostic, demographic, and service data. From these comparisons emerge a number of diagnostic and service related differences indicative of fairly dramatic differences in clinical presentation and treatment delivery.Patients over 55 years old from both the general units (n = 530) and the geropsychiatric unit (n= 653) are also compared in the analysis. Differences between these two groups included significantly longer.