Psychological factors in the prediction of Lyme disease course.

Objective: To determine whether history of severe, long-term, premorbid, psychological stress is associated with increased incidence of chronic physical symptoms in presumed Lyme disease patients.

Methods: Fifty-seven patients presenting at Lyme Disease Clinic of Long Island Jewish-Hillside Medical Center were studied for presenting symptoms, presence or absence of Lyme disease, and past history of psychological trauma. They were restudied 1 to 1.

Four-year follow-up of the influence of psychological comorbidity on medical rehospitalization.

Objective: This study tested the hypothesis that psychiatric comorbidity measured in medical and surgical general hospital inpatients predicts increased readmissions and days spent rehospitalized at the same hospital up to 4 years after discharge.

Method: A convenience sample of 273 medical/surgical inpatients aged 18 years and older were given psychological tests during their third to fifth hospital days on medical and surgical units from June 1, 1985, through June 30, 1986. The main outcome measure was the number of medical/surgical readmissions and number of days rehospitalized during a 4-year follow-up at the same institution.

Psychological comorbidity and length of stay in the general hospital.

Objective: As general hospitals search for ways to cut costs without sacrificing efficiency, particular attention has been focused on factors that may prolong hospital stay. The results of prior studies that have reported an association between psychological and psychiatric comorbidity and longer hospital stays have been subject to different interpretations because of methodological design flaws. The current paper reports on a study of psychological comorbidity and length of stay that has been designed to avoid the methodological problems of earlier investigations.