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Mental health
Study of electronic records from a south London psychiatric trust suggests that the increased mortality from physical illness linked to depression varies between ethnic groups
  1. Kwame McKenzie1,2
  1. 1 Department of Health Equity, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  2. 2 Office of CEO, Wellesley Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  1. Correspondence to Professor Kwame McKenzie, Health Equity, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario M6J 1H4, Canada; kwame{at}wellesleyinstitute.com

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Commentary on: Das-Munshi J, Chang CK, Schofield P, et al. Depression and cause-specific mortality in an ethnically diverse cohort from the UK: 8-year prospective study. Psychol Med. 2018:1-13. doi: 10.1017/S0033291718002210.

Implications for practice and research

  • Practitioners need to consider the physical health of all people with depression in order to decrease their excess mortality.

  • A community-based study is required to properly understand ethnic differences in the mortality rates of people with depression.

Context

Studies report that people with depression have increased mortality.1 This is not just because of suicide, it is linked to an increased risk of physical illnesses.2 Those with all severities of depression and even those with subclinical depression have increased mortality. It is unclear whether ethnicity has an impact on mortality rates in depression.

Methods

The study aimed to investigate all cause and cause-specific standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) by ethnicity in people …

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Footnotes

  • Competing interests None declared.

  • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.