The Mortality Experience of a Population with Psychiatric Illness

Previous studies of mortality among psychiatric patients have dealt only with inpatient populations. This study analyzes the mortality experience of persons having received psychiatric care as inpatients or outpatients in public and private institutions. The relative risk of death for the psychiatric care group was found to be two and one-half to three times that for the comparable general population. Variables such as diagnosis, cause of death, marital status, facility, and socioeconomic status are examined in an attempt to explain this high risk of death.