Physical health care in people with severe mental illness. prevalence and disparities comparing with general population

Objectives: Due to the high rates of premature death in people with schizophrenia and major mood disorders the aims of this study were: 1) to describe the physical health status of individuals with severe mental disorders, 2) to compare the general health status of individuals with severe mental disorders with general population of Canary Island, 3) to determine the cardio metabolic risk of individuals with severe mental disorder comparing with general population.
Study design: This is an observational study conducted in 231 participants with serious mental illness supervised by the assertive Community team in Tenerife
Methods: Within the psychiatric sample we examined the correlations with the composite parameters of health status and the association between health indicators and risk factors and the presence of cardiovascular risk and metabolic syndrome. Finally, we compared these parameters with the general reference population.
Results: The percentage of overweight (67.1% vs. 36.2%) (p< 0.001), obesity (33.3% vs. 18.2%) (p< 0.001), total cholesterol (42.4% vs. 20.6%) (p< 0.001), and smoking habit (79.2% vs. 28.4%) (p< 0.001), are statistical significantly greater in the study population when comparing with general population.
Conclusions: There is a clear relationship between heart disease, diabetes, obesity and respiratory diseases with mental health. Multidisciplinary assessment of psychiatric and medical conditions is needed. Psychiatric treatment facilities should offer and promote healthy lifestyle interventions.