Introduction: Early psychiatric rehospitalization is defined as the readmission within the first three months after discharge.Objective: To determine risk factors for early rehospitalization through the evaluation of two scenarios: readmission within three months and within one month post-discharge.Materials and methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted including 214 patients attending a psychiatric hospital in Bogotá. The follow-up included one year post discharge. A total of 311 hospitalization events were analyzed. GEE models for longitudinal data were used to deal with repeated measures in the statistical analysis.Results: Using the three-month criteria, early rehospitalization was found in 49.5% of 311 hospitalization events, while the one-month criteria was found in 31% of them. The three-month model showed that marital status (divorced-separated), diagnosis of substances use disorder, diagnosis related to medical condition and discharge produced by remission are factors associated with the outcome. The one month model showed that male gender and domestic partnership act as protective factors.Conclusion: In this sample, early rehospitalization is a frequent phenomenon. Factors strongly associated are related to psychosocial support, medical comorbidity, psychoactive substances use disorders and remission to a different hospital. http://dx.doi.org/10.7705/biomedica.v33i2.705