Advanced Search

Column | May 01, 2009

Datapoints: Are VA Patients With Serious Mental Illness Dying Younger?

Amy M. Kilbourne; Rosalinda V. Ignacio; Hyungjin Myra Kim; Frederic C. Blow

Psychiatric Services 2009; doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.60.5.589

View Article Information

The authors are affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Ann Arbor Health Services Research and Development Service Center of Excellence and National Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center, 2215 Fuller Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48105 (e-mail: amy.kilbourne@va.gov). Dr. Kilbourne and Tami L. Mark, Ph.D., are editors of this column.

Article

Tables

References

text A A A

A recent report found that patients with serious mental illness treated in eight state public mental health systems between 1997 and 2000 died on average 25 years earlier than the U.S. general population (1,2). The primary reasons attributed to the substantial years of potential life lost (YPLLs) include heart disease and the fragmentation of medical and mental health care (1). However, the extent to which this disparity is seen across other mental disorder diagnoses or in more integrated health care systems, notably the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), has not been determined. We assessed all-cause and heart disease-specific mortality risk for VHA patients with a diagnosis of serious mental illness, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or depression and for VHA patients without a mental disorder diagnosis and compared the YPLLs between these groups.

Data were from the VA Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center's National Psychosis Registry (2) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Death Index.

In fiscal year 2005, 4.2% of VHA patients with serious mental illness, 1.4% with PTSD, 2.8% with depression, and 2.7% without a mental disorder died from all causes. Overall, 1.0% of patients with serious mental illness, .4% with PTSD, .7% with depression, and .8% without a mental disorder died from heart disease.

Age- and sex-adjusted mean YPLLs from all-cause and heart disease-specific mortality (Table 1) were similar in magnitude for VHA patients with serious mental illness, depression, and no mental disorder, but they were higher for those with PTSD. Nonetheless, for all mental disorder diagnoses, YPLL estimates were lower than those reported for patients without a mental disorder outside of the VHA (25 years) (1). It appears that observed disparities in YPLLs are less severe in the VHA patient population.

Acknowledgments and disclosures

Acknowledgments and disclosures | References

This research was supported by grant IIR 07-115 from the Health Services Research and Development Service, VHA, and by the VA Office of Mental Health Services.

The authors report no competing interests.

References

Acknowledgments and disclosures | References

Parks J, Svendsen D, Singer P, et al (eds): Morbidity and Mortality in People With Serious Mental Illness. Alexandria, Va, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, Oct 2006

Care for Veterans With Psychosis in the VHA, FY05. Ann Arbor, Mich, VA National Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center, 2005

View Large | Download Slide(.ppt)
Add to My POL

Table 1. All-cause and heart disease-specific mortality among Veterans Health Administration patients with serious mental illness, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and no mental disorder in fiscal year 2005

View Large | Download Slide(.ppt)
Add to My POL

Parks J, Svendsen D, Singer P, et al (eds): Morbidity and Mortality in People With Serious Mental Illness. Alexandria, Va, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, Oct 2006

Care for Veterans With Psychosis in the VHA, FY05. Ann Arbor, Mich, VA National Serious Mental Illness Treatment Research and Evaluation Center, 2005

CME Activity

There is currently no quiz available for this resource. Please click here to go to the CME page to find another.

Submit a Comments

Please read the other comments before you post yours. Contributors must reveal any conflict of interest.
Comments are moderated and will appear on the site at the discertion of JBJS editorial staff.

* = Required Field

Comment Author(s)*(if multiple authors, separate names by comma)

Example: John Doe

Affiliation & Institution*

Comment Title*

Comment*

Cancel

Print
PDF
E-mail

Recipient(s) will receive an email with a link (good for 72 hours) to 'Datapoints: Are VA Patients With Serious Mental Illness Dying Younger?' and do not need to have Psychiatric Services account to access the content.
Your Name:*
Example: John Doe

Email Address:* CC Me:
Enter your valid email address. Example: jdoe@example.com

Recipient's Email Address:*
Separate multiple email address with semi-colons (up to 5).

Subject:* 's Psychiatric Services: 'Datapoints: Are VA Patients With Serious Mental Illness Dying Younger?'
Subject for your email.

Message:
(Optional, message will truncate at 1000 characters)

Processing your request... Please Wait...

Copyright © in the material you requested is held by The American Psychiatric Association (unless otherwise noted). This email ability is provided as a courtesy, and by using it you agree that you are requesting the material solely for personal, non-commercial use, and that it is subject to The American Psychiatric Association's Terms of Use. The information provided in order to email this topic will not be used to send unsolicited email, nor will it be furnished to third parties. Please refer to The American Psychiatric Association's Privacy Policy for further information.

Copyright © American Psychiatric Association. All rights reserved.
Share
Get Citation

Amy Kilbourne, Ph.D., M.P.H., Rosalinda Ignacio, M.S., Hyungjin Myra Kim, Sc.D., Frederic Blow, Ph.D.; Datapoints: Are VA Patients With Serious Mental Illness Dying Younger?. Psychiatric Services. 2009 May;60(5):589-589.

Download citation file:

RIS (Zotero)

EndNote

BibTex

Medlars

ProCite

RefWorks

Reference Manager

Copyright © American Psychiatric Association. All rights reserved.
Reprints