EXCESS MORTALITY OF MENTAL DISORDER

Background We describe the increased risk of premature death from natu ral and from unnatural causes for the common mental disorders. Method With a Medline search (1966- 1995) we found 152 English language repor ts on the mortality oi mental disorder which met our inclusion criteri a. From these reports, covering 27 mental disorder categories and eigh t treatment categories, we calculated standardised mortality ratios (S MRs) and 95% confidence intervals (Cls) for all causes of death, ail n atural causes and ail unnatural causes; and for most, SMRs for suicide , other violent causes and specific natural causes, Results Highest ri sks of premature death, from both natural and unnatural causes, are fo r substance abuse and eating disorders. Risk of death from unnatural c auses is especially high for the functional disorders, particularly sc hizophrenia and major depression. Deaths from natural causes are marke dly increased for organic mental disorders, mental retardation and epi lepsy. Conclusion Ali mental disorders have an increased risk of prema ture death.