Abstract
Policies addressing the physical health of people with mental disorders have historically focused on those with severe mental illness (SMI), giving less prominence to the more prevalent common mental disorders (CMDs). Little is known about the comparative physical health outcomes of these patient groups. We aimed to first compare the: (a) number of past-year chronic physical conditions and (b) recent physical health service utilization between CMDs vs. SMI, and secondly compare these outcomes between people with CMDs vs. people without mental disorders. We analyzed cross-sectional data from the third Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, a representative sample of the English population. We determined the presence of physical conditions and health service utilization by self-report and performed logistic regression models to examine associations of these outcomes between participant groups. Past-year physical conditions were reported by the majority of participants (CMDs, n = 815, 62.1%; SMI = 27, 63.1%) with no variation in the adjusted odds of at least one physical condition between diagnoses (odds ratio [OR] = 0.96, 95% confidence intervals [CI] 0.42-1.98, p = 0.784). People with CMDs were significantly more likely to be recently hospitalized relative to with those with SMI (OR = 6.33, 95% CI 5.50-9.01, p < 0.05). Having a CMD was associated with significantly higher odds of past-year physical conditions and recent health service utilization (all p < 0.001) compared with the general population. People with CMDs experience excess physical health morbidities in a similar pattern to those found among people with SMI, while their somatic hospitalization rates are even more elevated. Findings highlight the importance of recalibrating existing public health strategies to bring equity to the physical health needs of this patient group.
Highlights
The association between poor physical health and severe mental illness (SMI), traditionally defined as schizophrenia-like disorders, bipolar disorder, and other nonorganic psychoses, is well-established and has gained prominent research and policy attention over the years [1].People with SMI are at particular risk for increased physical health morbidity, given their higher risk of unhealthy lifestyle choices such as smoking [2,3], treatment with antipsychotic drugs [4], social deprivation [5], diminished awareness of their poor physical health [2,6], and delayed treatment for their physical problems [7] relative to the general population
common mental disorders (CMD) were identified in 1,248 participants, meeting the criteria for the following specific ICD-10 diagnoses: severe depression (n = 85, 6.3%), moderate depression (n = 63, 4.8%), mild depression (n = 88, 6.2%), panic disorder (n = 67, 6.0%), obsessive–compulsive disorder (n = 31, 2.8%), social phobia (n = 37, 2.7%), agoraphobia (n = 16, 1.3%), specific phobia (n = 19, 1.7%), mixed anxiety and depression disorder (n = 637, 52.4%), and generalized anxiety disorder (n = 207, 15.7%)
There were 40 participants with SMI and no comorbid CMDs, while 5,695 participants did not meet the criteria for any mental disorder
Summary
People with SMI are at particular risk for increased physical health morbidity, given their higher risk of unhealthy lifestyle choices such as smoking [2,3], treatment with antipsychotic drugs [4], social deprivation [5], diminished awareness of their poor physical health [2,6], and delayed treatment for their physical problems [7] relative to the general population. The combination of these risk factors leads to excess disability, culminating in reduced life-expectancy [8], and excess mortality [9] that have been increasing over the years relative to the general population [10,11] In light of these serious physical health risks, public health policies, and treatment interventions have focused their attention on people with SMI [12], as opposed to other patient groups with more prevalent common mental disorders (CMDs) such as anxiety disorders and unipolar depression. Findings highlight the importance of recalibrating existing public health strategies to bring equity to the physical health needs of this patient group
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
