Patients leaving hospital against advice likelier to OD: study – CBC
Study led by UBC researchers examined nearly 190,000 hospital admissions in B.C. over 5-year period
Sep 23, 2024
A new study has found that patients in B.C. who left hospitals against medical advice were 60 per cent more likely to suffer an overdose within a month of leaving when risk factors were considered.
The study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal on Monday, was led by researchers at the University of B.C.
It examined nearly 190,000 hospital stays in the province between 2015 and 2019. Of those, 6,440 (3.4 per cent) resulted in a “before medically advised” (BMA) discharge. In other words, they left against their doctor’s advice.
Among that cohort, the study found that when risk factors — like age, sex and being unhoused — were considered, they were 60 per cent likelier to suffer an overdose.
“It’s often the patients who decide to initiate before medically advised discharge that I’m most worried about,” said Dr. John Staples, a clinical associate professor at UBC and a physician at Vancouver General Hospital, who co-wrote the study.
“Because I know that their medical problem isn’t going to be treated once they leave.”
