Schizophrenia patients are four times as likely to die from all causes and are 50 percent more likely to die from cancer compared to people in the general population, revealed by researchers.
That new study published in the August 1, 2009 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The study’s results suggest that extra efforts should be made to improve cancer prevention and early detection in patients with schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia is associated with an increased incidence of premature death, in part due to a high rate of suicide among individuals with the disease. However, suicide alone does not account for the shortened life expectancy seen in schizophrenia patients. To determine the prevalence of cancer in patients with schizophrenia, Prof. Fr?d?ric Limosin of the University of Reims, Robert Debr? Hospital, in Reims, France and colleagues prospectively studied 3,470 patients with schizophrenia and tracked cancer incidence beginning in 1993.
The researchers found:
– 476 (14%) patients died during the eleven years of the study, a death rate was nearly four-fold higher than in the general population.
– Seventy-four patients died of cancer, making it the second most frequent cause of death behind suicide.
– In men with schizophrenia, the risk of death due to lung cancer was significantly higher than that in the general population.
– In women, the risk of overall mortality was significantly higher than among the general population.
– In female schizophrenic patients, the risk of death due to breast cancer was significantly higher than in the general population.
The possible explanations for this increased rate:
– a delay in diagnosis due to schizophrenic patients paying less attention to symptoms
– schizophrenic patients are less compliance to treatment
Prof. Limosin and his collaborators noted that additional studies should further examine cancer rates in individuals with schizophrenia and should better define the characteristics of tumors that arise in these patients.
Source: American Cancer Society, USA