Mental disorders and risk of accidental death
Open accessAbstract
Background: Little is known about accidental death risks among psychiatric patients. Aims: To examine this issue in the most comprehensive study to date. Method: National cohort study of all Swedish adults ( n = 6 908 922) in 2001–2008. Results: There were 22 419 (0.3%) accidental deaths in the total population, including 5933 (0.9%) accidental deaths v . 3731 (0.6%) suicides among psychiatric patients ( n = 649 051). Of persons who died from accidents, 26.0% had any psychiatric diagnosis v . 9.4% in the general population. Accidental death risk was four- to sevenfold among personality disorders, six- to sevenfold among dementia, and two- to fourfold among schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression or anxiety disorders, and was not fully explained by comorbid substance use. Strong associations were found irrespective of sociodemographic characteristics, and for different types of accidental death (especially poisoning or falls). Conclusions: All mental disorders were strong independent risk factors for accidental death, which was substantially more common than suicide.
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Individuals with SMI are two to four times more likely to die from accidents compared to the general population.
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- Authors
- Crump, C., Sundquist, K., Winkleby, M. A., & Sundquist, J.
- Affiliations
- Lund University (SE)
- Stanford University (US)
- Venue
- British Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Published
- 2013-10
- Volume
- 203
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 297-302
- ISSN
- 0007-1250 (ISSN-L)
- 1472-1465
- OpenAlex
- W2126971509
- Cited by
- 90
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 4
- FWCI
- 6.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The British Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Lund University Publications (Lund University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Vetenskapsrådet
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA030005)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Injury Epidemiology and Prevention
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Keywords
- accidental death, mental illness, psychiatric patients, suicide, personality disorders, dementia, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety disorders, substance use comorbidity, poisoning, falls, risk factors
- MeSH terms
- Accidents, Adult, Aged, Mental Disorders, Epidemiologic Methods, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Socioeconomic Factors, Suicide, Sweden, Young Adult
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