Premature Death Among Outpatients at a Community Mental Health Center

In a 10-year prospective study, mortality among psychiatric outpatients under age 40 was investigated in a sample of 322 Belgian patients. 15 of the patients died before age 40; six by suicide. The standardized mortality ratio for male patients in the study was 5.05 times greater than expected for a sample of the general population of Belgium, & for women it was 5.63 times greater. Not all of the excess mortality could be attributed to suicide. (25 refs.)