Premature mortality in people affected by co-occurring homelessness, justice involvement, opioid dependence, and psychosis: a retrospective cohort study using linked administrative data

Homelessness, opioid dependence, justice involvement, and psychosis are each associated with an increased risk of poor health and commonly co-occur in the same individuals. Most existing studies of mortality associated with this co-occurrence rely on active follow-up methods prone to selection and retention bias, and focus on a limited set of specific exposures rather than taking a population-based approach. To address these limitations, we did a retrospective cohort study using linked administrative data.

In this retrospective cohort study, we linked a population register of adults resident in Glasgow, UK, to administrative datasets from homelessness and criminal justice services; community pharmacies; and a clinical psychosis registry with data from April 1, 2010 to March 31, 2014. Linkage to death registrations from April 1, 2014 to March 31, 2019 provided follow-up data on premature mortality (age <75 years) from all causes, non-communicable diseases, and causes considered potentially avoidable through health-care or public health intervention. We estimated hazard ratios (HR) using Poisson regression, adjusting for age, gender, socioeconomic deprivation, and calendar time.

Of 536 653 cohort members, 11 484 (2·1%) died during follow-up. All-cause premature mortality was significantly higher among people with multiple exposures than among people with single exposures, and among people with any exposure than among people with none (eg, homelessness plus other exposures vs no exposures: HR 8·4 [95% CI 7·3-9·5]; homelessness alone vs no exposures: HR 2·2 [1·9-2·5]). Avoidable premature mortality was highest among those with multiple exposures (eg, imprisonment plus other exposures vs no exposures: HR 10·5 [9·1-12·3]; imprisonment alone vs no exposures: HR 3·8 [3·0-4·8]). Premature mortality from non-communicable disease was higher among those with any exposures than among those with none, despite accounting for a lower proportion of deaths in the exposed group; although in some cases there was little difference between estimates for single versus multiple exposures.

The co-occurrence of at least two of homelessness, opioid dependence, justice involvement, or psychosis is associated with very high rates of premature mortality, particularly from avoidable causes of death, including non-communicable disease. Responding to these findings demands wide-ranging efforts across health-care provision, public health, and social policy. Future work should examine the timing and sequencing of exposures to better understand the causal pathways underlying excess mortality.

Chief Scientist Office, Medical Research Council, NHS Research Scotland.