[Why do they leave? Clinical characteristics of patients who leave the emergency room against medical advice].

The object of this study was to characterize those who leave the emergency department against medical advice and to examine the short-term consequences. The study was conducted retrospectively during 1992 and prospectively during May-August 1993 by telephone interviews. About 0.5% of all the patients who applied to the emergency department left against medical advice. Their main characteristics was that they were mostly young, single men. A wide range of complaints had brought them to the emergency department, very similar to that of the control group, but with a higher tendency to abuse drugs and alcohol. Most of those who left against medical advice had less severe disease than the controls. However 10% of them had to be hospitalized within the subsequent 2 weeks, in comparison with 4% of the controls. This study suggests that improving the efficiency of the emergency department will decrease the number leaving against advice.