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People with serious mental illness die an average of 25 years earlier than the general population because of increased rates of suicide and cardiovascular disease. These researchers focused on changes in the mortality gap since the advent of atypical antipsychotics, which have more adverse cardiometabolic effects than earlier antipsychotics.
The researchers aggregated 11 years of prescription and mortality data on all schizophrenia patients hospitalized in Finland (95% of all schizophrenia patients).
Roughly 30% of 67,000 patients never used antipsychotics. Use of atypical antipsychotics rose from 13% in 1996 to 64% in 2006.
The mortality gap continued, and was wider in 20-year-olds than in 40-year-olds. Overall risk for death was lower in pat…