Changes in psychiatric care may have caused increases in mortality in patients with schizophrenia

Although patients with schizophrenia have a mortality two to three times higher than the general population, little is known about the time trends in mortality. On page 483 Osby et al describe a retrospective cohort study in patients with schizophrenia in Stockholm county in 1976-95. They found that standardised mortality ratios for all causes of deaths increased 1.7-fold in men with schizophrenia and 1.3-fold in women. The authors believe that changes in psychiatric care policy in Sweden, from inpatient to outpatient care, may be responsible.


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Relevant Article

Time trends in schizophrenia mortality in Stockholm County, Sweden: cohort study
Urban Ösby, Nestor Correia, Lena Brandt, Anders Ekbom, and Pär Sparén
BMJ 2000 321: 483-484. [Full Text] [PDF]

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