Exploring the physical health of patients with severe or long-term mental illness using routinely collected general...

Australian information on the physical health of general practice patients with a mental illness is limited. The aim of this study was to explore the physical health of patients with a severe and/or long-term mental illness (SMI).

Analysis was performed of routinely collected data from patients visiting one of 452 general practice sites participating in the national MedicineInsight program during 2017-18.

Of the 173,861 participants, 9.1% had recorded SMI. Almost three-quarters had a record of the selected long-term physical health conditions, compared with half of patients without recorded SMI (adjusted odds ratio: 2.2, 95% confidence interval: 2.1, 2.3). Patients with SMI were also more likely to have a history of smoking or moderate-to-heavy drinking.

More patients with SMI had records of the investigated health conditions than those without SMI. They also had higher rates of modifiable risk factors. As patients with SMI are likely to visit their general practitioners often, this presents an opportunity for intervention that may improve patient outcomes.