Elevated cancer incidence among adults with serious mental illness.
OBJECTIVE
Research is increasingly focusing on the health status of adults with serious mental illness. This study examined databases in Vermont to determine the incidence of cancer in this population.


METHODS
Probabilistic statistical methods were used to determine the overlap between the Vermont Cancer Registry and Vermont mental health treatment databases.


RESULTS
The incidence of cancer for adults with mental illness was 1.6 percent, more than twice (2.5 times) that of the general population. Among persons with mental illness, elevated risk was greatest for men younger than 50 years (6.6 times the risk of a comparable group in the general population) and lowest for women aged 50 years and older (1.8 times the risk of a comparable group).


CONCLUSIONS
These findings raise important questions about the relationship between serious mental illness and cancer. Future research should consider the effect of lifestyle factors, and potential effects of first- and second-generation antipsychotics should be investigated.
Pandiani
John A
JA
Division of Mental Health, Vermont Department of Mental Health, 108 Cherry Street, Burlington, Vermont 05402, USA. jpan diani@vdh.state.vt.us
Boyd
Monica M
MM
Banks
Steven M
SM
Johnson
Alison T
AT
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D012042:Registries; D012306:Risk; D012737:Sex Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D014707:Vermont