Mentally Ill More Likely to Die by Homicide

Mental disorders have been long associated with suicide and the perpetration of violence. But studies exploring how having a mental disorder relates to being the victim of homicide controlled inadequately for confounding, had insufficient size to examine individual disorders, or included only severely mentally ill individuals. In this Swedish nationwide study of all adults (age ≥17), researchers linked data from the census and death and healthcare registries.

In an 8-year period, 615 homicides occurred, including 141 of people with mental illness. In analyses adjusted for age, sex, and sociodemographics, risk for death by homicide increased 4.9-fold among individuals with mental disorders, and unmarried men of low socioeconomic status were e…