Mental hospitalisation and its impact on mortality

Area of Science:

• Epidemiology
• Public Health
• Mental Health Research

Background:

• Severe mental health problems are a significant public health concern.
• Understanding the long-term mortality risks associated with mental hospitalization is crucial for effective healthcare planning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of severe mental problems (mental hospitalization) on male mortality.
• To account for selection bias in mental hospitalization and its effect on mortality estimates.
• To examine how these effects vary across different birth cohorts and education levels.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a correlated multistate model to analyze the mental hospitalization process and mortality.
• Employed data from the Swedish Military Conscription Data linked to administrative Swedish registers.
• Estimated a timing-of-events model with cause-specific mortality rates for five distinct causes of death.

Main Results:

• Ignoring the endogeneity of mental hospitalization overestimates its effect on mortality hazard.
• The impact of mental hospitalization on mortality has increased over time.
• Higher educated men experience a greater effect of mental hospitalization on mortality.
• Mental hospitalization affects mortality from suicide, external causes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and other natural causes.

Conclusions:

• Accurate assessment of mental hospitalization's mortality impact requires accounting for selection processes.
• Mental hospitalization poses a broad mortality risk, extending beyond external causes to natural causes of death.
• The long-term mortality consequences of mental health conditions are substantial and warrant further investigation and intervention.