Healthcare officials should pay more attention to mental health problems, because it could reduce peoples life expectancy more than smoking can, according to new research. A team at Oxford University reviewed 20 past studies including data from more than 1.7 million people and over 250,000 deaths. The mortality risk was assessed for diagnoses including mental health problems, substance abuse, dementia, autism spectrum disorders and childhood behavioural disorders, before each one was compared to that associated with heavy smoking. It was found that bipolar disorder can reduce life expectancy by nine to 20 years, while schizophrenia can also lower it by a similar timeframe. Recurrent depression could take seven to 11 years off a persons life. However, the loss of years for heavy smokers was often lower at eight to ten years. Publishing the findings in the journal World Psychiatry, Dr Seena Fazel said: Smoking is recognised as a huge public health problem. There are effective ways to target smoking, and with political will and funding, rates of smoking-related deaths have started to decline. We now need a similar effort in mental health. Last November The We Need to Talk coalition, of which the Society is a key member, called for the NHS in England to offer a full range of evidence-based psychological therapies to all who need them within 28 days of requesting a referral.
Posted on: Thu, 29 May 2014 10:15:01 +0000
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