Loading...
On average, people with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia die earlier than the general population. To assess recent trends in this mortality gap, investigators examined records of people with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia who were discharged from inpatient psychiatric care in England between 1999 and 2006; follow-up lasted 1 year.
The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) was used to compare mortality of people with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia with mortality of the general population. Between 1999 and 2006, the SMR rose significantly for people with bipolar disorder (from 1.3 to 1.9) and for those with schizophrenia (from 1.6 to 2.2). Although “unnatural” causes of death (e.g., accidents, suicide) are more common among people with the…