Severe mental illness linked to 50% increase in COVID-related death--British study

Severe mental illness linked to 50% increase in COVID-related death The study was based on outcomes seen among 660,000 UK patients from February 2020 to April 2021. CIDRAP

People with severe mental illness (SMI) are at a 50% increased risk of death from all causes following COVID-19 infections, according to a study yesterday  in The British Journal of Psychiatry.

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"Patients with an SMI were older than controls," the authors said. "A higher proportion of patients with an SMI who contracted COVID-19 were obese, current smokers and of Black Caribbean/Black African ethnicity, compared with the other groups, and had multimorbidity."

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