Failure to replicate the effects of gender and season on the length of hospitalisation in unipolar depressives

Background: Kecskés et al. [J. Affect. Dis. 73 (2003) 279] reported a possible effect of season and gender on the length of hospital stay among inpatients with a unipolar depression. Methods: The effects of season and gender upon the length of stay and clinical outcomes among 1283 inpatient admissions with unipolar depression diagnosed according to ICD-10 were examined. Results: Males had shorter length of stay but no better outcomes. There was no evidence of shorter lengths of stay for either gender in summer. Conclusions: The present study failed to replicate the effect of season and gender on the length of stay in hospital among inpatients with unipolar major depression. Limitations: The clinical outcomes were based upon a single item from the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS).