Mental illness is 'as bad for life expectancy as smoking

Many mental illnesses are as bad for our health as smoking, shocking new research has revealed.

In fact, life expectancy for people with mental health problems is less than for heavy smokers, experts have found.

Serious mental illness can reduce a person's life expectancy by 10 to 20 years, when the average reduction in life expectancy for heavy smokers is eight to 10 years, according to researchers from Oxford University.

Mental illness can reduce a person's life expectancy by between 10 and 20 years

But mental health has not been given the same public health priority as smoking, they said.

The study, published in the journal World Psychiatry, analysed previous research on death risk for a whole range of problems - mental health issues, drug and alcohol abuse, dementia, autistic spectrum disorders, learning disability and childhood behavioural disorders.

The authors examined 20 papers looking at 1.7 million people and over 250,000 deaths.

They found that the average reduction in life expectancy for people with bipolar disorder was between nine and 20 years.

For schizophrenia, life expectancy was 10 to 20 years lower and for those with recurrent depression, it was seven to 11 years lower.

Those who fall victim to drug and alcohol abuse lose between nine and 24 years, the research found, while heavy smokers lost up to a decade. 

'We found that many mental health diagnoses are associated with a drop in life expectancy as great as that associated with smoking 20 or more cigarettes a day,' said Dr Seena Fazel, of the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford University.

'There are likely to be many reasons for this. High-risk behaviours are common in psychiatric patients, especially drug and alcohol abuse, and they are more likely to die by suicide. 

'The stigma surrounding mental health may mean people aren't treated as well for physical health problems when they do see a doctor.

The average reduction in life expectancy in a heavy smoker is eight to 10 years making mental illness more dangerous

'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. 

'Unfortunately, people with serious mental illnesses may not access healthcare effectively.'

But she added that all of this could be changed.

'That means making sure people have straightforward access to health care, and appropriate jobs and meaningful daytime activities. 

'What we do need is for researchers, care providers and governments to make mental health a much higher priority for research and innovation.'

Dr John Williams, head of neuroscience and mental health at the Wellcome Trust, which funded the study, added: 'We now have strong evidence that mental illness is just as threatening to life expectancy as other public health threats such as smoking.

Mark Winstanley, chief executive of Rethink Mental Illness, said: 'Our Lethal Discrimination report showed that more than 30,000 people with mental illness are dying needlessly every year - that's more than one avoidable death every 20 minutes.

'Signs of heart disease, diabetes and cancer are being missed because people aren't getting the right health checks.

'Obesity and smoking are also huge problems - 40 per cent or all tobacco consumption is by people with mental illness, yet they aren't getting the support with lifestyle changes that other people expect and receive.'

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2637319/Mental-illness-bad-life-expectancy-smoking.html