[ABSTRACT] OBJECTIVE: To describe clinical and epidemiological characteristics of geriatric patients admitted in an acute psychiatric ward. DESIGN: Description and retrospective analysis of clinical charts of elderly inpatients over 12 months. SETTING: Acute psychiatric ward in a public psychiatric hospital. PATIENTS: Chart reviews of 49 patients with a total of 70 admissions of patients age 65 or greater. MAIN RESULTS: Average age of patients was 75.43 years and most of them had previous medica