Reducing excess mortality in severe mental illness - a narrative review

People with severe mental illness die 10-20 years earlier than the general population, mostly from preventable physical diseases. Fragmented care, under-screening and undertreatment of cardiovascular, respiratory, infectious and cancer conditions widen this gap. Embedding physical screening, proactive treatment, smoking cessation, cancer checks and multidisciplinary, person-centred care into psychiatric services could close this mortality divide.