To analyze the relationship between sociodemographic and clinical data in a sample of involuntarily admitted patients to an acute psychiatric hospital.

Retrospective sociodemographic and clinical data regarding patients involuntarily admitted in a psychiatric clinic were gathered and statisticaly analyzed.

Of all the patients 33% were unemployed, 30,8% finished high school, 62,8% were single (unmarried, divorced or widow). 33% had no previous history of psychiatric admission. 64,6% had an aggressive behavior against a family member or another person previous to the admission. The most frequent diagnosis of involuntarily admission was psychomotor agitation (61,5%) and was significantly associated with the presence of delusions. Differences found between men and women: men were significantly more aggressive than women and had more frequent substance or alcohol abuse than women, women were involuntarily admitted for a longer period of time than men and had a more frequent diagnosis of psychotic disorder than men. Lack of compliance with the treatment previous to the admission was not significantly associated with the aggressive behavior or the presence of delusions.

The majority of involuntarily admitted patients were unemployed, single, with aggressive behavior, delusions and a history of previous psychiatric admission. Differences regarding the gender were noted in terms of substance and alcohol abuse and the involuntarily admitted period.