Older patients (≥65yo) admitted to general hospitals have increased in the past years. This resulted in an increase in hospitalization periods, health costs, and morbi-mortality rates in this group of patients.

Previous evidence points that the reduced time to referral (TTR) to Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Units (CLP) leads to a reduced length of stay (LOS) in GH improving long-term prognosis of medical conditions.

This study aims to explore whether a prior disability in older patients leads to delay the search for psychiatric help. And to explore whether early referral to CLP is associated with reduced LOS in general hospitals.

This is an observational, cross-sectional, multicentre study. We obtained a complete data set from a sample of 152 patients (≥65 years old) admitted to 7 general hospitals in Spain referred to CLP unit for 1,5 months.

Mean age of the sample was 76.3 (±6.4). TTR was 14.5 (±18.0) days. LOS was 26.7 (±22.4) days, and length of stay after consultation was 12.3 (±10.3) days. Barthel Index before admission was 87.3 (±18.0) and Lawton&Brody Index before admission was 5.3 (2.7). We found a significant positive association of Barthel Index (r=0.17, p=0.042) and Lawton&Brody Index (r=0.20, p=0.014) before admission with TTR, which indicates that patients with a worse clinical status were attended earlier. Similarly, antecedents of both falling episodes (r=-0.2, p= 0.013) and walking difficulties (r=-0.24, p= 0.003) were associated with shorter TTR. TTR in Medical Departments was 11.7 (±15.0) days and in Surgical Departments was 24.0 (±22.8) days (t=-3.5, p= 0.001). TTR showed a highly significant positive correlation with LOS (r=0.89, p<0.0001) and a more discrete positive correlation with length of stay after consultation (r=0.20, p=0.016).

We confirm that a shorter TTR to CLP was related to a shorter LOS. Also, patients in medical wards had shorter TTR. In contrast to our hypothesis, we found that a higher disability prior to hospitalization led to earlier referral to CLP, meaning that these patients were assessed and treated earlier leading to better long- term prognosis and lower health costs.