Overview
People with severe mental illness (SMI) experience poor physical health and die up to 20 years early. Many premature deaths in this population are from physical health conditions that can be prevented. Combining new research from academic and public health institutions, this session will present new findings regarding disparities in the physical health of people with SMI and inequalities in diagnosis and treatment of physical health conditions. We will explore the impact of poor physical health on national rates of hospitalisation and mortality and the impact of the covid-19 pandemic. We will describe patterns of multimorbidity and physical health hospitalisations in people with SMI, including the timing between physical and mental health diagnoses and implications for targeting interventions to improve physical health. We will take a closer look at SMI and diabetes, from diagnosis to outcomes, discussing how having SMI contributes to inequalities in incidence of diabetes, diabetes outcomes and receipt of care, and identifying key time points we need to target if we are to reduce these.
Finally, we will present trends and geographical variation in premature mortality in people with SMI, and what can be done to reduce this inequality. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as an example, we will demonstrate that the combined impact of poor physical and mental health makes this population vulnerable to societal changes, and that within the population with SMI there are groups which are at increased risk. Delegates will develop an appreciation of the complex nature of poor physical health and multimorbidity in people with SMI, and how inequalities span the progression from diagnosis, to treatment, health outcomes, hospitalisations and deaths. They will also develop an understanding of key time points where interventions would have greatest impact, and the knowledge gaps that need addressing if we are to improve physical health outcomes.
Objectives
The learning objectives of this session are to understand:
- which physical health conditions are common in people with SMI and which are elevated compared to people without SMI
- the patterns of physical health multimorbidity and timings of physical health diagnoses in people with SMI
- inequalities in diagnosing and treating diabetes in people with SMI and potential actions to improve this
- the temporal and geographic trends in premature mortality in people with SMI in England
- the vulnerability of this population to premature mortality in times of societal change and key risk groups within the population with SMI
- the key gaps in understand that need addressing
- the key times to intervene to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of physical health conditions and to reduce premature mortality in people with SMI.
Speakers
Chair: Professor Joseph Hayes, Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London
Dr Naomi Launders, Division of Psychiatry, University College London, London
Dr Caroline Jackson, Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh
Mr Cam Lugton, Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, London
