Life expectancy at birth and all-cause mortality among people with personality disorder.
OBJECTIVE
It is well established that serious mental illness is associated with raised mortality, yet few studies have looked at the life expectancy of people with personality disorder (PD). This study aims to examine the life expectancy and relative mortality in people with PD within secondary mental health care.


METHODS
We set out to examine this using a large psychiatric case register in southeast London, UK. Mortality was obtained through national mortality tracing procedures. In a cohort of patients with a primary diagnosis of PD (n=1836), standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) and life expectancies at birth were calculated, using general population mortality statistics as the comparator.


RESULTS
Life expectancy at birth was 63.3 years for women and 59.1 years for men with PD-18.7 years and 17.7 years shorter than females and males respectively in the general population in England and Wales. The SMR was 4.2 (95% CI: 3.03-5.64) overall; 5.0 (95% CI: 3.15-7.45) for females and 3.5 (95% CI: 2.17-5.47) for males. The highest SMRs were found in the younger age groups for both genders.


CONCLUSIONS
People with PD using mental health services have a substantially reduced life expectancy, highlighting the significant public health burden of the disorder.
King's College London, King's Health Partners, Dept of Health Service and Population Research, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK.
Marcella Lei-Yee
ML
Fok
Richard D
RD
Hayes
Chin-Kuo
CK
Chang
Robert
R
Stewart
Felicity J
FJ
Callard
Paul
P
Moran
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002423:Cause of Death; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services; D008875:Middle Aged; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000401:mortality*; D012307:Risk Factors