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Modifiable risk factors for inpatient violence in psychiatric hospital: prospective study and prediction model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 May 2021

Seena Fazel*
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, University Dept, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK
Mark Toynbee
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, University Dept, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK
Howard Ryland
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, University Dept, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK
Maria Vazquez-Montes
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, University Dept, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK
Hasanen Al-Taiar
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, University Dept, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK
Achim Wolf
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, University Dept, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK
Omar Aziz
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, University Dept, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK
Vivek Khosla
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, University Dept, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK
Gautam Gulati
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, University Dept, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK
Thomas Fanshawe
Affiliation:
University of Oxford, University Dept, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, OX3 7JX, UK Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK
*
Author for correspondence: Seena Fazel, E-mail: seena.fazel@psych.ox.ac.uk
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Abstract

Background

Violence perpetrated by psychiatric inpatients is associated with modifiable factors. Current structured approaches to assess inpatient violence risk lack predictive validity and linkage to interventions.

Methods

Adult psychiatric inpatients on forensic and general wards in three psychiatric hospitals were recruited and followed up prospectively for 6 months. Information on modifiable (dynamic) risk factors were collected every 1–4 weeks, and baseline background factors. Data were transferred to a web-based monitoring system (FOxWeb) to calculate a total dynamic risk score. Outcomes were extracted from an incident-reporting system recording aggression and interpersonal violence. The association between total dynamic score and violent incidents was assessed by multilevel logistic regression and compared with dynamic score excluded.

Results

We recruited 89 patients and conducted 624 separate assessments (median 5/patient). Mean age was 39 (s.d. 12.5) years with 20% (n = 18) female. Common diagnoses were schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (70%, n = 62) and personality disorders (20%, n = 18). There were 93 violent incidents. Factors contributing to violence risk were a total dynamic score of ⩾1 (OR 3.39, 95% CI 1.25–9.20), 10-year increase in age (OR 0.67, 0.47–0.96), and female sex (OR 2.78, 1.04–7.40). Non-significant associations with schizophrenia-spectrum disorder were found (OR 0.50, 0.20–1.21). In a fixed-effect model using all covariates, AUC was 0.77 (0.72–0.82) and 0.75 (0.70–0.80) when the dynamic score was excluded.

Conclusions

In predicting violence risk in individuals with psychiatric disorders, modifiable factors added little incremental value beyond static ones in a psychiatric inpatient setting. Future work should make a clear distinction between risk factors that assist in prediction and those linked to needs.

Information

Type
Original Article
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted re- use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press
Figure 0

Table 1. Cohort demographic, clinical and background characteristics of 89 psychiatric inpatients

Figure 1

Table 2. Summary of dynamic scores for the 624 assessments of the study cohort

Figure 2

Table 3. Associations between risk factors and occurrence of violent incidents

Figure 3

Fig. 1. ROC curve of the main model predicting inpatient violence: predictions incorporating random effects.Note: AUC 0.87 (95% CI 0.84–0.91).

Figure 4

Fig. 2. ROC curve of the main model predicting inpatient violence: predictions not incorporating random effects.Note: AUC 0.77 (95% CI 0.72–0.91).

Supplementary material: File

Fazel et al. supplementary material

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