MORTALITY GAP Flashcards
what are severe mental illnesses?
schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
what percentage of the genera population has a severe mental illness?
1% has schizophrenia
0.5% has bipolar disorder
what are the factors that drive health inequalities?
adverse childhood events e.g. victim of abuse poor housing poverty traumatic events poor working conditions
what are health inequalities?
unfair and avoidable differences in health across the population, and between different groups within society.
if you have a severe mental illness, which social inequalities are you more likely to face?
poverty homelessnes incarceration social islation unemployment
what is the health gap?
a gap in the life expectancy between those in general population and those of severe mental ill health
if you have a severe mental illness, how much shorted if your life expectancy?
up to 20 years less
if you have a severe mental illness, is your physical health likely to be worse?
yes, multi morbidity chance is also much higher risk
which factors drive poor physical health in those with severe mental illnesses?
social factors e.g. unemployment and poverty
lack of access to support
effects of medication taken for SMI
diagnostic overshadowing
increased behaviours that pose risk e.g. smoking
what is diagnostic overshadowing?
misattribution of physical health symptoms to part of an existing mental health diagnosis, rather than a genuine physical health problem requiring treatment
why is the prevalence of smoking so high in those with a severe mental health problem?
mental health service staff have elevated smoking rates and offer them to patients
they think it reduces stress
cigarette economy in mental hospitals
is quitting smoking good for severe mental illness?
yes it suggested that it can reduce levels of anxiety and depression. smoking doesn’t actually reduce stress, its just the feeling of acute relief from nicotine withdrawal
how do we stop smoking in the severe mental illness community?
the same things as we would do for the general population! the problem is that those with an SMI don’t tend to access the conventional NHS smoking cessation services as readily
what was SCIMITAR+?
a trial to test an intervention that would be fit to reduce smoking rates in the SMI population
how is the SCIMITAR+ different to the NHS standard treatment programme?
it was delivered by a mental health professional, used nicotine pre-loading, was more intensive, more personalised, paid special attention to the interaction between smoking and the medication they take
