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Physical and Psychiatric Comorbidities and Their Influence on All-Cause and Suicide Mortality: A Longitudinal Study of 109,900 Young Patients with Schizophrenia.

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Physical and Psychiatric Comorbidities and Their Influence on All-Cause and Suicide Mortality: A Longitudinal Study of 109,900 Young Patients with Schizophrenia.

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  • Research Article
  • 10.1017/s0033291726103687
Response to Kellner, Espinoza, Gligorovic, and Sartorius.
  • Mar 24, 2026
  • Psychological medicine
  • Hamish Naismith + 5 more

Gligorovic, & Sartorius, 2025) to our systematic review and metaanalysis (Naismith et al., 2025).Kellner and colleagues note that we limited our review to studies with both an ECT arm and a comparator arm and that 'this choice omits relevant studies in which an acute course of ECT is administered and suicidal thoughts and behaviors are measured before and after the intervention.'We acknowledge that limiting our eligibility criteria to studies that had a comparator group will have resulted in some observational studies being excluded.However, we considered that inclusion of studies with a control group would be much less vulnerable to bias and would allow us to make more robust conclusions about the effectiveness of ECT.The authors also state that 'while Naismith et al. included 17 studies in their systematic review, their meta-analysis included only a subset of these."They add that 'it is not clear to us why all three outcomes [all-cause, suicide, and non-suicide mortality] would be needed to include a study for which one or two of the relevant outcomes were measured.'In our paper, we noted that 'not every study reported the number of events for all three outcomes (all-cause, suicide, and nonsuicide mortality)."We should clarify that this sentence was a description of our results and not a criterion for excluding studies from our meta-analysis: reports indeed often only included one or two of our outcomes of interest and were not excluded from the meta-analysis on that basis.We apologize if this was unclear.Kellner and colleagues cite the study by Rhee et al. ( 2021), which reported significant reductions in all-cause mortality until 1-year after ECT and suicide mortality until 90-days after ECT, as an example of a study that was 'omitted from the meta-analyses, potentially altering the results."However, we were unable to include this study in our meta-analysis: although they reported hazard ratios and numbers at risk at different timepoints, they did not report the actual numbers of events of our outcomes of interest.The authors describe how 'data from other studies compellingly demonstrate a benefit from ECT on all-cause and suicide mortality.'In our meta-analyses, we found that ECT was associated with a significant reduction in all-cause mortality; for suicide mortality, we found there were 'no differences in a consistent direction across all studies."The authors question our conclusion that 'it is possible that ECT has no effect on suicide mortality," which they describe as an 'unnecessarily negative assessment."We added this statement in response to a reviewer comment and, while it is a theoretically possible explanation for our finding, we consider a much more probable explanation to be the high levels of heterogeneity between included studies.This interpretation would be consistent with the findings of two meta-analyses which, by only including patients with diagnoses of depression, had less clinically heterogenous populations compared to those included in our review.Odermatt et al. (2025), cited in our review, reported that ECT was associated with a statistically significant reduction in the odds ratio for suicide (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.50-0.88)compared to treatment as usual.Kellner and colleagues also highlight the Chan et al. ( 2025) review and meta-analysis, which reported that ECT use was associated with reduced suicide mortality (RR = 0.67, 95% CI: 0.53-0.85)compared to no ECT use.In further support of the view that high heterogeneity explains the results of our meta-analysis of suicide mortality, we note in our review that 'studies that restricted the study population to patients with a higher severity of depression and accounted for confounding by indication through a wide range of covariates were more likely to show a reduction in suicide mortality.'Taken together, we agree with Kellner and colleagues that these findings suggest that ECT is a safe and effective treatment when prescribed for appropriate indications.

  • Research Article
  • Cite Count Icon 15
  • 10.1007/s00406-022-01478-6
Physical and psychiatric comorbidities among patients with severe mental illness as seen in Uganda.
  • Aug 24, 2022
  • European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
  • Richard Stephen Mpango + 8 more

While psychiatric and physical comorbidities in severe mental illness (SMI) have been associated with increased mortality and poor clinical outcomes, problem has received little attention in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study established the prevalence of psychiatric (schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder, and recurrent major depressive disorder) and physical (HIV/AIDS, syphilis, hypertension and obesity) comorbidities and associated factors among 1201 out-patients with SMI (schizophrenia, depression and bipolar affective disorder) attending care at two hospitals in Uganda. Participants completed an assessment battery including structured, standardised and locally translated instruments. SMIs were established using the MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview version 7.2. We used logistic regression to determine the association between physical and psychiatric comorbidities and potential risk factors. Bipolar affective disorder was the most prevalent (66.4%) psychiatric diagnoses followed by schizophrenia (26.6%) and recurrent major depressive disorder (7.0%). Prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity was 9.1%, while physical disorder comorbidity was 42.6%. Specific comorbid physical disorders were hypertension (27.1%), obesity (13.8%), HIV/AIDS (8.2%) and syphilis (4.8%). Potentially modifiable factors independently significantly associated with psychiatric and physical comorbidities were: use of alcohol for both syphilis and hypertension comorbidities; and use of a mood stabilisers and khat in comorbidity with obesity. Only psychiatric comorbidity was positively associated with the negative outcomes of suicidality and risky sexual behaviour. The healthcare models for psychiatric care in LMICs such as Uganda should be optimised to address the high burden of psychiatric and physical comorbidities.

  • Research Article
  • 10.1016/j.jad.2025.05.035
Association of lipid-modifying medication with reduced mortality in bipolar disorder: A nationwide cohort study.
  • Sep 1, 2025
  • Journal of affective disorders
  • Pao-Huan Chen + 7 more

Association of lipid-modifying medication with reduced mortality in bipolar disorder: A nationwide cohort study.

  • Research Article
  • 10.1111/add.70397
All-cause and cause-specific mortality in gambling disorder: Evidence from a nation-wide matched and sibling cohort study in Taiwan.
  • Mar 23, 2026
  • Addiction (Abingdon, England)
  • Yang-Chieh Brian Chen + 6 more

Gambling disorder (GD) has been linked to suicidal ideation and suicide deaths; however, evidence on all-cause and cause-specific mortality-particularly in Asian populations-remains limited. Using a retrospective cohort study based on nationwide matched and sibling cohort, we investigated all-cause and cause-specific mortality risk in patients with GD. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using 2000-2022 data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. A cohort of 961 individuals diagnosed with GD was identified. An age- and sex-matched control cohort (n = 3,844) and an unaffected sibling cohort (n = 675) were constructed. Cumulative survival was illustrated using Kaplan-Meier curves. Cox regression models estimated crude and adjusted hazard ratios (AHR) for all-cause, natural-cause and unnatural-cause (accidents and suicides) mortality risks. Covariates for adjustment included sociodemographic factors, physical and psychiatric comorbidities and familial confounding. Over a mean follow-up of 8 years, GD was associated with elevated all-cause mortality risk [AHR 1.20, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.90-1.61] driven by statistically significantly elevated risk of unnatural mortality (AHR 6.15, 95% CI = 3.44-10.98) and especially suicide mortality (AHR 10.03, 95% CI = 4.71-21.33). Risk of natural mortality was statistically significantly lower in GD patients (AHR 0.66, 95% CI = 0.45-0.96). Sibling cohort analysis revealed a similar trend (all-cause mortality: AHR 1.70, 95% CI = 0.67-4.28; unnatural cause mortality: AHR 8.65, 95% CI = 1.62-46.22; suicide mortality: AHR 7.24, 95% CI = 0.74-70.59; natural cause mortality: AHR 0.48, 95% CI = 0.13-1.73). Results remained consistent after adjustment for individual psychiatric comorbidities. Gambling disorder patients in Taiwan appear to have a statistically significantly increased risk of unnatural-cause mortality and especially suicide mortality compared with matched controls. Policies and clinical interventions for treating GD patients should focus on suicide prevention to reduce mortality in this population.

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  • Cite Count Icon 8
  • 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1208551
Factors associated with psychiatric and physical comorbidities in bipolar disorder: a nationwide multicenter cross-sectional observational study.
  • Jul 25, 2023
  • Frontiers in Psychiatry
  • Jozef Dragasek + 3 more

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a chronic and disabling affective disorder with significant morbidity and mortality. Despite the high rate of psychiatric and physical health comorbidity, little is known about the complex interrelationships between clinical features of bipolar illness and comorbid conditions. The present study sought to examine, quantify and characterize the cross-sectional associations of psychiatric and physical comorbidities with selected demographic and clinical characteristics of adults with BD. A nationwide multicenter cross-sectional observational epidemiological study conducted from October 2015 to March 2017 in Slovakia. Out of 179 study participants [median age 49 years (interquartile range IQR 38-58); 57.5% females], 22.4% were free of comorbidity, 42.5% had both psychiatric and physical comorbidities, 53.6% at least one psychiatric comorbidity, and 66.5% at least one physical comorbidity. The most prevalent were the essential hypertension (33.5%), various psychoactive substance-related disorders (21.2%), specific personality disorders (14.6%), obesity (14.5%), and disorders of lipoprotein metabolism (14%). The presence of an at least one physical comorbidity, atypical symptoms of BD, and unemployed status were each associated with an at least one psychiatric comorbidity independent of sex, early onset of BD (age of onset <35 years), BD duration and pattern of BD illness progression (p < 0.001). The presence of various psychoactive substance-related disorders, BD duration, atypical symptoms of BD, unemployed status, pension, female sex, and not using antipsychotics were each associated with an at least one physical comorbidity independent of the pattern of BD illness progression (p < 0.001). In several other multiple regression models, the use of antipsychotics (in particular, olanzapine) was associated with a decreased probability of the essential hypertension and predicted the clinical phenotype of comorbidity-free BD (p < 0.05). This cross-national study has reported novel estimates and clinical correlates related to both the comorbidity-free phenotype and the factors associated with psychiatric and physical comorbidities in adults with BD in Slovakia. The findings provide new insights into understanding of the clinical presentation of BD that can inform clinical practice and further research to continue to investigate potential mechanisms of BD adverse outcomes and disease complications onset.

  • Research Article
  • Cite Count Icon 5
  • 10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.107192
Healthcare utilization and psychiatric and physical comorbidities before suicide mortality in patients with methamphetamine use disorder: A nationwide case–control study
  • Nov 24, 2021
  • Addictive Behaviors
  • Wan-Chen Lee + 7 more

Healthcare utilization and psychiatric and physical comorbidities before suicide mortality in patients with methamphetamine use disorder: A nationwide case–control study

  • Research Article
  • Cite Count Icon 32
  • 10.3346/jkms.2017.32.5.835
Mortality in Schizophrenia and Other Psychoses: Data from the South Korea National Health Insurance Cohort, 2002–2013
  • Mar 16, 2017
  • Journal of Korean Medical Science
  • Woorim Kim + 5 more

Individuals with psychoses show excess mortality, which is a major public health concern. This study examined all-cause and suicide mortality rates in Korean patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, mood disorder, or mental and behavioral disorder due to psychoactive substance use and to compare this with that of the general population. Data were from the National Health Insurance cohort, 2002 to 2013. A total of 107,190 cases aged 15 years or over were included. Mortality rates per 100,000 person years (PY) were obtained. Poisson regression modelling was conducted to quantify the effect of baseline characteristics on all-cause and suicide mortality risks. Standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) were also calculated. All-cause mortality was the highest among mental and behavioral disorder patients (1,051.0 per 100,000 PY), followed by schizophrenia (949.1 per 100,000 PY) and mood disorder patients (559.5 per 100,000 PY). Highest suicide mortality was found in schizophrenia (177.2 per 100,000 PY), mental and behavioral disorder (143.7 per 100,000 PY), and mood disorder patients (59.7 per 100,000 PY). The rate ratios (RRs) for all-cause and suicide mortality were reduced for younger populations and women. Psychoses patients had higher all-cause (schizophrenia, SMR 2.4; 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.2–2.5; mood disorder, SMR 1.4; 95% CI 1.3–1.5; mental and behavioral disorder, SMR 2.6; 95% CI 2.5–2.8) and suicide (schizophrenia, SMR 8.4; 95% CI 7.2–9.6; mood disorder, SMR 2.8; 95% CI 2.1–3.5; mental and behavioral disorder, SMR 6.8; 95% CI 5.7–7.9) mortality rates than the general population. These findings infer that efforts should be made to reduce excess mortality in psychoses.

  • Research Article
  • Cite Count Icon 63
  • 10.1001/jama.2023.8627
Transgender Identity and Suicide Attempts and Mortality in Denmark
  • Jun 27, 2023
  • JAMA
  • Annette Erlangsen + 5 more

ImportancePrior studies have suggested that transgender individuals may be a high-risk group with respect to suicide attempt and mortality, but large-scale, population-based investigations are lacking.ObjectiveTo examine in a national setting whether transgender individuals have higher rates of suicide attempt and mortality than nontransgender individuals.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsNationwide, register-based, retrospective cohort study on all 6 657 456 Danish-born individuals aged 15 years or older who lived in Denmark between January 1, 1980, and December 31, 2021.ExposureTransgender identity was determined through national hospital records and administrative records of legal change of gender.Main Outcomes and MeasuresSuicide attempts, suicide deaths, nonsuicidal deaths, and deaths by any cause during 1980 through 2021 were identified in national hospitalization and causes of death registers. Adjusted incidence rate ratios (aIRRs) with 95% CIs controlling for calendar period, sex assigned at birth, and age were calculated.ResultsThe 6 657 456 study participants (50.0% assigned male sex at birth) were followed up during 171 023 873 person-years. Overall, 3759 individuals (0.06%; 52.5% assigned male sex at birth) were identified as transgender at a median age of 22 years (IQR, 18-31 years) and followed up during 21 404 person-years, during which 92 suicide attempts, 12 suicides, and 245 suicide-unrelated deaths occurred. Standardized suicide attempt rates per 100 000 person-years were 498 for transgender vs 71 for nontransgender individuals (aIRR, 7.7; 95% CI, 5.9-10.2). Standardized suicide mortality rates per 100 000 person-years were 75 for transgender vs 21 for nontransgender individuals (aIRR, 3.5; 95% CI, 2.0-6.3). Standardized suicide-unrelated mortality rates per 100 000 person-years were 2380 for transgender vs 1310 for nontransgender individuals (aIRR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.6-2.2), and standardized all-cause mortality rates per 100 000 person-years were 2559 for transgender vs 1331 for nontransgender individuals (aIRR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.7-2.4). Despite declining rates of suicide attempts and mortality during the 42 years covered, aIRRs remained significantly elevated in recent calendar periods up to and including 2021 for suicide attempts (aIRR, 6.6; 95% CI, 4.5-9.5), suicide mortality (aIRR, 2.8; 95% CI, 1.3-5.9), suicide-unrelated mortality (aIRR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.5-2.1), and all-cause mortality (aIRR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.4-2.1).Conclusions and RelevanceIn this Danish population-based, retrospective cohort study, results suggest that transgender individuals had significantly higher rates of suicide attempt, suicide mortality, suicide-unrelated mortality, and all-cause mortality compared with the nontransgender population.

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  • Cite Count Icon 2
  • 10.1007/s00787-024-02511-w
Longitudinal study on all-cause and suicide mortality among individuals with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
  • Jun 25, 2024
  • European child & adolescent psychiatry
  • Jia-Shyun Jeng + 7 more

Previous research has linked attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with an increased risk of all-cause mortality, primarily owing to unnatural causes such as accidents and suicides. This increase may be attributable to the co-occurrence of major psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BD), major depressive disorder (MDD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), anxiety disorders, substance use disorders (SUDs), and personality disorders (PDs). This study examined the all-cause and specific-cause mortality rates in individuals with ADHD and the influence of psychiatric comorbidities. Between 2003 and 2017, 1.17million individuals were enrolled in the study, of which 233,886 received a diagnosis of ADHD from the Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database. A 1:4 sex- and birth year-matched control group without ADHD was also included. Hazard ratios (HRs) for mortality rates were estimated between groups after adjusting for demographic data. During the follow-up period, 781 individuals with ADHD died. The HR for all-cause mortality was 1.45 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.30-1.61), largely owing to unnatural causes, particularly suicide. Suicide rates were particularly high in individuals with ADHD and psychiatric comorbidities: the HRs for suicide were 47.06 in ADHD with SUDs (95% CI: 6.12-361.99), 32.02 in ADHD with SCZ (7.99-128.29), 23.60 in ADHD with PDs (7.27-76.66), 10.11 in ADHD with anxiety disorders (5.74-17.82), 9.30 in ADHD with BD (4.48-19.33), 8.36 in ADHD with MDD (5.66-12.35), and 6.42 in ADHD with ASD (1.83-22.53) relative to ADHD only. ADHD was associated with increased mortality rates, primarily owing to suicide. The presence of major psychiatric comorbidities was associated with a further increase in suicide mortality risk.

  • Research Article
  • 10.1002/wps.70072
Risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality, and suicide attempt in people with anxiety and stress-related disorders: a systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression analysis of 165 studies.
  • Jun 1, 2026
  • World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA)
  • Elias Wagner + 25 more

Anxiety disorders are the most prevalent mental health conditions worldwide. While their burden in terms of excess mortality is known to be high, a quantitative systematic evaluation of all-cause and cause-specific mortality and suicide attempt risks in people with anxiety or stress-related disorders is lacking. We performed a systematic review and random effects meta-analysis, in which co-primary outcomes were risk ratios (RRs) for all-cause and suicide-related mortality, and secondary outcomes were natural-cause mortality, other cause-specific mortality, and risk of suicide attempt. Sensitivity and meta-regression analyses were conducted. Overall, 165 studies encompassing 7,395,722 people with any anxiety or stress-related disorder and 135,059,023 controls, from 27 different countries across all continents, were included. Compared with the general population, a higher risk of all-cause mortality was associated with any anxiety or stress-related disorder (n=42, RR=1.54, 95% CI: 1.14-2.08, p=0.005), generalized anxiety disorder (n=9, RR=1.48, 95% CI: 1.23-1.78, p<0.001), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other stress-related disorders (n=21, RR=1.39, 95% CI: 1.15-1.67, p<0.001), but not with panic disorder, phobias, and mixed anxiety or stress-related disorders. Suicide mortality was increased in people with any anxiety or stress-related disorder (n=39, RR=2.88, 95% CI: 2.13-3.89, p<0.001), panic disorder (n=3, RR=3.58, 95% CI: 1.39-9.25, p<0.008), mixed anxiety or stress-related disorders (n=27, RR=2.77, 95% CI: 1.89-4.07, p<0.001), PTSD and other stress-related disorders (n=11, RR=3.13, 95% CI: 1.85-5.28, p<0.001), and generalized anxiety disorder (n=3, RR=1.93, 95% CI: 1.17-3.17, p<0.01). Suicide attempt risk was higher than in the general population in people with all anxiety or stress-related disorders, ranging from RR=6.33 (95% CI: 4.08-9.82, n=5) in panic disorder to RR=2.74 (95% CI: 1.72-4.35, n=5) in phobias. Natural-cause mortality was increased in any anxiety or stress-related disorder (n=19, RR=1.25, 95% CI: 1.09-1.44, p=0.002), generalized anxiety disorder (n=5, RR=1.55, 95% CI: 1.19-2.02, p=0.001), mixed anxiety or stress-related disorders (n=8, RR=1.26, 95% CI: 1.02-1.56, p=0.033), and PTSD and other stress-related disorders (n=9, RR=1.17, 95% CI: 1.03-1.33, p=0.019), but not in panic disorder. Cardiovascular-related deaths were increased in any and mixed anxiety or stress-related disorders and in generalized anxiety disorder, while cancer mortality was increased only in generalized anxiety disorder. When analyzing people with vs. without anxiety disorders with samples being matched by comorbid physical or mental disorders, results remained significant for all-cause mortality in generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder, but not in any or mixed anxiety or stress-related disorders, and in PTSD and stress-related disorders. When compared with other mental disorders, no difference in co-primary outcomes emerged from more than two studies. Publication bias was present across several analyses, but sensitivity analyses largely confirmed the main findings. In meta-regression analyses, more recent data collection mitigated all-cause mortality, while schizophrenia-spectrum and bipolar disorder comorbidity mitigated suicide mortality risk, possibly driven by underlying treatment. This meta-analysis documents a higher all-cause, suicide and natural-cause mortality, and a higher risk of suicide attempt, in people with anxiety or stress-related disorders compared to the general population. Given the high prevalence and the recognized global treatment gap for these disorders, this finding is of great public health concern, and calls for appropriate prevention, screening and treatment strategies. More studies are needed to fill the publication bias gap and to identify modifiable risk or mitigating factors.

  • Research Article
  • Cite Count Icon 2
  • 10.1007/s00787-022-02038-y
Healthcare utilization and comorbidity shortly before suicide mortality in patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a nested case-control study.
  • Jul 3, 2022
  • European Child &amp; Adolescent Psychiatry
  • Wan-Chen Lee + 5 more

Few studies have analyzed healthcare utilization before suicide among individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study examined the pattern of healthcare utilization and comorbidities shortly before death among patients with ADHD who died by suicide and compared these data with those of living controls. This study used Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database to identify patients with ADHD (N = 379,440) between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2016. Subsequently, the researchers identified 159 suicide decedents by linking each patient with the National Mortality Database. By conducting a nested case-control study with risk-set sampling from the ADHD cohort, the researchers selected 20 age- and sex-matched controls (n = 3180) for each patient who died by suicide (cases). The researchers then applied conditional logistic regression to investigate differences in healthcare utilization as well as psychiatric and physical comorbidities between case patients and controls. Case patients had higher healthcare utilization within 3months before suicide, particularly in the psychiatry, emergency, internal medicine, neurosurgery, and plastic surgery departments. These patients also had higher risks of psychiatric comorbidities, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depressive disorder, and sleep disorder, as well as physical comorbidities such as hypertension and other forms of heart disease. Among patients with ADHD, suicide decedents had increased healthcare utilization and higher risks of specific psychiatric and physical comorbidities than living controls. Thus, for suicide prevention among individuals with ADHD, suicide risk must be detected early and comorbidities should be adequately managed.

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  • Cite Count Icon 44
  • 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003864
Psychiatric comorbidity and risk of premature mortality and suicide among those with chronic respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and diabetes in Sweden: A nationwide matched cohort study of over 1 million patients and their unaffected siblings
  • Jan 27, 2022
  • PLoS Medicine
  • Amir Sariaslan + 5 more

BackgroundPersons with noncommunicable diseases have elevated rates of premature mortality. The contribution of psychiatric comorbidity to this is uncertain. We aimed to determine the risks of premature mortality and suicide in people with common noncommunicable diseases, with and without psychiatric disorder comorbidity.Methods and findingsWe used nationwide registries to study all individuals born in Sweden between 1932 and 1995 with inpatient and outpatient diagnoses of chronic respiratory diseases (n = 249,825), cardiovascular diseases (n = 568,818), and diabetes (n = 255,579) for risks of premature mortality (≤age 65 years) and suicide until 31 December 2013. Patients diagnosed with either chronic respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, or diabetes were compared with age and sex-matched population controls (n = 10,345,758) and unaffected biological full siblings (n = 1,119,543). Comorbidity with any psychiatric disorder, and by major psychiatric categories, was examined using diagnoses from patient registers. Associations were quantified using stratified Cox regression models that accounted for time at risk, measured sociodemographic factors, and unmeasured familial confounders via sibling comparisons. Within 5 years of diagnosis, at least 7% (range 7.4% to 10.8%; P < 0.001) of patients with respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, or diabetes (median age at diagnosis: 48 to 54 years) had died from any cause, and 0.3% (0.3% to 0.3%; P < 0.001) had died from suicide, 25% to 32% of people with these medical conditions had co-occurring lifetime diagnoses of any psychiatric disorder, most of which antedated the medical diagnosis. Comorbid psychiatric disorders were associated with higher all-cause mortality (15.4% to 21.1%) when compared to those without such conditions (5.5% to 9.1%). Suicide mortality was also elevated (1.2% to 1.6% in comorbid patients versus 0.1% to 0.1% without comorbidity). When we compared relative risks with siblings without noncommunicable diseases and psychiatric disorders, the comorbidity with any psychiatric disorder was associated with substantially increased mortality rates (adjusted HR range: aHRCR = 7.2 [95% CI: 6.8 to 7.7; P < 0.001] to aHRCV = 8.9 [95% CI: 8.5 to 9.4; P < 0.001]). Notably, comorbid substance use disorders were associated with a higher mortality rate (aHR range: aHRCR = 8.3 [95% CI: 7.6 to 9.1; P < 0.001] to aHRCV = 9.9 [95% CI: 9.3 to 10.6; P < 0.001]) than depression (aHR range: aHRCR = 5.3 [95% CI: 4.7 to 5.9; P < 0.001] to aHRCV = 7.4 [95% CI: 7.0 to 7.9; P < 0.001]), but risks of suicide were similar for these 2 psychiatric comorbidities.One limitation is that we relied on secondary care data to assess psychiatric comorbidities, which may have led to missing some patients with less severe comorbidities. Residual genetic confounding is another limitation, given that biological full siblings share an average of half of their cosegregating genes. However, the reported associations remained large even after adjustment for shared and unmeasured familial confounders.ConclusionsIn this longitudinal study of over 1 million patients with chronic health diseases, we observed increased risks of all-cause and suicide mortality in individuals with psychiatric comorbidities. Improving assessment, treatment, and follow-up of people with comorbid psychiatric disorders may reduce the risk of mortality in people with chronic noncommunicable diseases.

  • Research Article
  • Cite Count Icon 29
  • 10.1136/bmjment-2023-300940
All-cause and suicide mortalities among adolescents and young adults who contacted specialised gender identity services in Finland in 1996–2019: a register study
  • Jan 1, 2024
  • BMJ Mental Health
  • Sami-Matti Ruuska + 3 more

BackgroundAll-cause and suicide mortalities of gender-referred adolescents compared with matched controls have not been studied, and particularly the role of psychiatric morbidity in mortality is unknown.ObjectiveTo examine all-cause and suicide...

  • Research Article
  • Cite Count Icon 31
  • 10.1111/acps.13519
Mood stabilizers and risk of all-cause, natural, and suicide mortality in bipolar disorder: A nationwide cohort study.
  • Nov 22, 2022
  • Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica
  • Pao‐Huan Chen + 6 more

People with bipolar disorder have an elevated risk of mortality. This study evaluated associations between the use of mood stabilizers and the risks of all-cause mortality, suicide, and natural mortality in a national cohort of people with bipolar disorder. In this nationwide cohort study, we used data from January 1, 2000, to December 31, 2016, collected from Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database and included 25,787 patients with bipolar disorder. Of these patients, 4000 died during the study period (including 760 and 2947 from suicide and natural causes, respectively). Each standardized mortality ratio (SMR) was calculated as the ratio of observed mortality in the bipolar cohort to the number of expected deaths in the general population. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression with a time-dependent model was performed to estimate the hazard ratio (HR) of each mood stabilizer with each mortality outcome. The SMRs of all-cause mortality, suicide, and natural mortality in the bipolar disorder cohort were 5.26, 26.02, and 4.68, respectively. The use of mood stabilizers was significantly associated with decreased risks of all-cause mortality (adjusted HR [aHR]=0.58, p< 0.001), suicide (aHR=0.60, p < 0.001), and natural mortality (aHR=0.55, p < 0.001) within a 5-year follow-up period after index admission. Among the individual mood stabilizers, lithium was associated with the lowest risks of all-cause mortality (aHR=0.38, p < 0.001), suicide (aHR=0.39, p < 0.001), and natural mortality (aHR=0.37, p < 0.001). In addition to having protective effects against suicide and all-cause mortality, mood stabilizers also exert a substantial protective effect against natural mortality, with lithium associated with the lowest risk of mortality.

  • Research Article
  • 10.1111/ajad.70158
Differential mortality among US veterans: Social determinants of health, substance use disorder, and substance use treatment.
  • Apr 3, 2026
  • The American journal on addictions
  • Kashfi Pandit + 4 more

Veterans face disproportionate suicide and mortality risks driven by intersecting social determinants of health (SDH), including housing instability, unemployment, and justice involvement, and co-occurring substance use disorders (SUD). This study examined how these intersecting factors influence mortality and whether SUD treatment mitigated mortality risks among US veterans. Using national Veterans Health Administration data (2014-2019), we identified 215,944 veterans with SUD and an indicator of one of three adverse SDH: housing instability, justice involvement, or unemployment. We tracked suicide and all-cause mortality for 1 year following SDH exposure. We used discrete-time survival models to assess associations between month-specific SUD treatment and mortality outcomes, controlling for demographic, clinical (i.e., mental health conditions, suicidal behavior), and contextual covariates. Nearly half of veterans (48%) received SUD treatment. Those who received treatment had lower all-cause mortality (2.1% vs. 4.3%; p < .001) but no significant difference in suicide mortality (0.14% vs. 0.15%; p = .75). [Correction added on 22 April 2026, after first online publication: The preceding sentence has been revised in this version.] SUD treatment was associated with a 24% (aOR = 1.24; 95% CI: 1.16-1.34) reduction in all-cause mortality, though its interaction with each adverse SDH was not statistically significant. Suicide deaths remained concentrated among White veterans, those aged 18-34, with no service connection, and with time-varying suicidal ideation or attempts (p < .001). Engagement in SUD treatment reduces all-cause mortality among veterans facing compounded social adversity but does not independently mitigate suicide deaths. Integrated approaches that embed suicide prevention within addiction and SDH-focused care are essential to address the multifactorial drivers of veterans' suicidal mortality.

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