There is little published data regarding the association between gender and outcomes in acute inpatient psychiatry. We present outcomes from a study of 5601 acute psychiatric admissions.

The objective of this study was to identify associations between gender and outcome of acute psychiatric admission, looking specifically at length of stay and at whether they were detained in hospital.

The relationship between gender and acute psychiatric inpatient length of stay and detention status was analyzed for all admissions over 90 months from Sept 2002 to Feb 2010. There were 5601 consecutive admissions included in this study, 2862 of which were male and 2739 were female. There were no exclusions. Data was complete for more than 99% of subjects, and was extracted from part of routine service data on an anonymous- basis. The subjects were admitted into two acute inpatient wards in central Norfolk. Data was analyzed using SPSS. Ethics consent was granted by the research ethics committee.

The study showed no significant difference in average length of stay (female = 32.98, male = 32.11; P = 0.595). Additionally, no significant difference was found linking gender to detention status (26% female, 25% male; P = 0.517) as opposed to informal or voluntary admission.

The study found no evidence of a gender bias regarding overall length of stay and legal status in acute admissions. Further research should be conducted in this area to examine whether there is any gender bias in outcomes relating to diagnosis.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.