People with serious psychiatric illness are more likely to use drink alcohol and use drugs and tobacco than those in the general population, according to a new study reported by UPI.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and the University of Southern California said the finding was of "particular concern" because individuals with mental illness are more likely to die younger than people without mental disorders, UPI reported.
"These patients tend to pass away much younger, with estimates ranging from 12 to 25 years earlier than individuals in the general population," Sarah Hartz, assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University, said in a statement. "They don't die from drug overdoses or commit suicide - the kinds of things you might suspect in severe psychiatric illness. They die from heart disease and cancer, problems caused by chronic alcohol and tobacco use."
For the study, researchers analyzed smoking, drinking and drug use in nearly 20,000 people, including 9,142 psychiatric patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and mood disorders such as depression. In more than 10,000 healthy people, researchers assessed nicotine use, heavy drinking marijuana use and recreational drug use.
They found that more than 75 percent of those with severe mental illness were regular smokers and 30 percent engaged in binge drinking, In comparison , only 33 percent of those in the control group were regular smokers and the rate of binge drinking for the group is 8 percent.
Researchers also found that about half of those with psychiatric disorders used marijuana and other illicit drugs, while the rate of recreational drug use in the general population is 12 percent.
"I take care of a lot of patients with severe mental illness, many of whom are sick enough that they are on disability," Hartz said. "And it's always surprising when I encounter a patient who doesn't smoke or hasn't used drugs or had alcohol problems."
According to a press release, smoking rates have declined in the general population during the last few decades. People age 50 are much more likely than younger people to have been regular smokers at some point in their lives. According to the study, 40 percent of those over 50 used to smoke regularly. Among those under 30, fewer than 20 percent have been regular smokers. However, among the mentally ill, the smoking rate is more than 75 percent, regardless of the patient's age.
"With public health efforts, we've effectively cut smoking rates in half in healthy people, but in the severely mentally ill, we haven't made a dent at all," she said.
Hartz added that psychiatrists need to develop new strategies to reduce smoking, drinking and drug use because interventions that have worked in other patient populations don't seem to be very effective in psychiatric patients.
