{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T06:56:08Z","timestamp":1790751368006,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790726400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychiatry"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Timely outpatient follow-up after psychiatric hospitalization has been proposed as a key strategy to reduce readmission; however, evidence in patients with first-admission schizophrenia remains limited. Using the Korean National Health Insurance Claims Database, we conducted a nationwide retrospective cohort study of 1,961 patients with first-admission schizophrenia, defined as having no psychiatric service utilization during the preceding three years. We examined whether outpatient follow-up within 30 days after discharge was associated with the risk of readmission within 365 days. Adjusted Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios across multiple cumulative follow-up periods (60, 90, 120, 150, 180, and 365 days), controlling for sociodemographic and clinical factors. Kaplan\u2013Meier analysis was used to assess differences in readmission-free survival. Among the study population, 53.2% received outpatient follow-up within 30 days after discharge. When evaluated across progressively longer cumulative follow-up periods, outpatient follow-up was associated with a significantly lower risk of readmission at 60 days (aHR = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.29\u20130.95), 90 days (aHR = 0.55, 95% CI: 0.35\u20130.88), 120 days (aHR = 0.63, 95% CI: 0.43\u20130.94), 150 days (aHR = 0.66, 95% CI: 0.46\u20130.95), and 180 days (aHR = 0.70, 95% CI: 0.51\u20130.98), but not at 365 days (aHR = 0.79, 95% CI: 0.61\u20131.02). Kaplan\u2013Meier analysis showed longer readmission-free survival in the follow-up group, although the difference was more pronounced over shorter follow-up durations. Timely outpatient follow-up was associated with reduced readmission risk over shorter cumulative follow-up periods, with attenuation of the association as the follow-up duration increased.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2026.1922379","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]],"date-time":"2026-09-30T06:05:35Z","timestamp":1790748335000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Timely outpatient follow-up and readmission risk in schizophrenia"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Ji Woon","family":"Jeong","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Jeju Institute of Public Health and Health Policy, Jeju National University Hospital","place":["Jeju, Republic of Korea"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hyeyoung","family":"Yoo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jeju Institute of Public Health and Health Policy, Jeju National University Hospital","place":["Jeju, Republic of Korea"]},{"name":"Department of Health Policy and Management, College of Medicine, Jeju National University","place":["Jeju, Republic of Korea"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hyeung-Keun","family":"Park","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Jeju Institute of Public Health and Health Policy, Jeju National University Hospital","place":["Jeju, Republic of Korea"]},{"name":"Department of Health Policy and Management, College of Medicine, Jeju National University","place":["Jeju, Republic of Korea"]},{"name":"Department of Preventive Medicine, Jeju National University Hospital","place":["Jeju, Republic of Korea"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/schbul\/sby058","article-title":"Global epidemiology and burden of schizophrenia: Findings from the 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