WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - People diagnosed with severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder may have a life expectancy up to 20 years shorter than the general population, according to researchers at the University of Queensland.
To reach this conclusion, researchers analyzed 24 years of hospital data from Queensland covering nearly 180,000 patients. They found that people with severe mental illness tended to develop serious physical health problems at a younger age.
Published in The Lancet Psychiatry, the study looked at 11 major types of physical illness, including heart, respiratory, neurological, infectious and metabolic diseases.
Among the nearly 30,000 people with severe mental illness included in the study, physical health problems were much more common. Many also had several long-term health conditions affecting different parts of the body.
'Many people have assumed the shorter life expectancy associated with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder is mostly due to suicide, but much of the gap is actually driven by physical illnesses, many of which are preventable or treatable,' said study author Dr. Sean Halstead.
'We need to stop thinking about schizophrenia and bipolar disorder as mental health conditions that exist in isolation.'
Notably, the impact was particularly strong among younger adults. Also, women under 25 with severe mental illness experienced especially poor physical health outcomes compared with the general population.
Researchers said growing evidence suggests that conditions such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder may affect the body more broadly than previously understood. However, more research is needed to fully understand the link between severe mental illness and physical health.
'Good treatment isn't just managing the primary condition; it's looking after the whole person and preventing complications,' Halstead added. 'By the time physical conditions emerge, opportunities for prevention may already have been missed.'
The researchers also said that early treatment and regular physical health check-ups after a mental health diagnosis could help prevent or reduce the development of multiple long-term health problems.
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