Premature Mortality Among Adults With Schizophrenia in the United States

Although adults with schizophrenia have a significantly increased risk of premature mortality, sample size limitations of previous research have hindered the identification of the underlying causes.

To describe overall and cause-specific mortality rates and standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) for adults with schizophrenia compared with the US general population. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: We identified a national retrospective longitudinal cohort of patients with schizophrenia 20 to 64 years old in the Medicaid program (January 1, 2001, to December 31, 2007). The cohort included 1,138,853 individuals, 4,807,121 years of follow-up, and 74,003 deaths, of which 65,553 had a known cause. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Mortality ratios for the schizophrenia cohort standardized to the general population with respect to age, sex, race/ethnicity, and geographic region were estimated for all-cause and cause-specific mortality. Mortality rates per 100,000 person-years and the mean years of potential life lost per death were also determined. Death record information was obtained from the National Death Index.