14 DAY TRIAL // In a paper in the journal World Psychiatry, researchers with the Oxford University in the United Kingdom argue that certain mental illnesses can cut an individual's life expectancy by as much as 10 to 20 years.
The specialists detail that this reduction in life expectancy is similar to that that has previously been documented in people who like their cigarettes a wee too much.
Simply put, serious mental illnesses affect a person's life expectancy about as much as heavy smoking does, the Oxford University researchers write in their paper. Still, it is heavy smoking that governments tend to focus on and try to mitigate.
“There are likely to be many reasons for this. High-risk behaviors are common in psychiatric patients, especially drug and alcohol abuse, and they are more likely to die by suicide,” Dr. Seena Fazel says in a statement.
“Many causes of mental health problems also have physical consequences and mental illness worsen the prognosis of a range of physical illnesses, especially heart disease, diabetes and cancer,” the Oxford University researcher adds, as cited by EurekAlert.
Dr. Seena Fazel and fellow researchers explain that, after reviewing data concerning mortality risk linked to several diagnoses and behaviors, they determined that mental illnesses influence a person's life expectancy more than one would expect.
Specifically, they found that bipolar disorder need be blamed for a 9 to 20 years reduction in life expectancy. Schizophrenia, drug and alcohol abuse, and recurrent depression were found to reduce life expectancy by 10 to 20, 9 to 24, and 7 to 11 years, respectively.
To put things into perspective, it need be said that heavy smokers have been shown to lose an average of 8 to 10 years of their lives as a result of their habit to light up one too many times a day, Dr. Seena Fazel and colleagues explain in the journal World Psychiatry.
In light of these findings, the Oxford University specialists recommend that high officials not just in the United Kingdom but in other parts of the world as well move to make mental health a priority and ensure that people diagnosed with such conditions get the best care possible.
“Smoking is recognised as a huge public health problem. There are effective ways to target smoking, and with political will and funding, rates of smoking-related deaths have started to decline. We now need a similar effort in mental health,” Dr. Seena Fazel wishes to stress.