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. 2017 Oct;211(4):194-197.
doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.117.203240. Epub 2017 Sep 7.

Improving life expectancy in people with serious mental illness: should we place more emphasis on primary prevention?

Athif Ilyas  1 , Edward Chesney  1 , Rashmi Patel  2
Affiliations

Improving life expectancy in people with serious mental illness: should we place more emphasis on primary prevention?

Athif Ilyas et al. Br J Psychiatry. 2017 Oct.

Abstract

People with serious mental illness have a reduced life expectancy that is partly attributable to increased cardiovascular disease. One approach to address this is regular physical health monitoring. However, physical health monitoring is poorly implemented in everyday clinical practice and there is little evidence to suggest that it improves physical health. We argue that greater emphasis should be placed on primary prevention strategies such as assertive smoking cessation, dietary and exercise interventions and more judicious psychotropic prescribing.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interestNone.

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