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Controversy surrounds the potential long-term impact of psychotropic medications on mortality. Researchers examined Swedish registry data to obtain 5-year death rates among 21,492 patients with schizophrenia receiving no, low, moderate, or high cumulative doses of antipsychotics, antidepressants, or benzodiazepines (baseline mean age, 46; illness duration, 70 months); 61% were male, and 53% had psychiatric hospitalization histories.
Overall, 6711 patients received medications from all three classes; 8079 received medications in two classes; and 4828, 168, and 268 patients received only antipsychotics, antidepressants, or benzodiazepines, respectively; 1438 took no medication. During follow-up, 1591 patients (7.4%) died, most commonly from ca…