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. 2024 Apr 18;23(1):14.
doi: 10.1186/s12991-024-00499-w.

Mortality in Qatari individuals with mental illness: a retrospective cohort study

Sami Ouanes  1 , Lien Abou Hashem  1 , Ibrahim Makki  1 , Faisal Khan  1 , Omer Mahgoub  1 , Ahmed Wafer  1 , Omer Dulaimy  1 , Raed Amro  1 , Suhaila Ghuloum  2
Affiliations

Mortality in Qatari individuals with mental illness: a retrospective cohort study

Sami Ouanes et al. Ann Gen Psychiatry. .

Abstract

Introduction: There is substantial evidence that people with mental illness have higher mortality rates than the general population. However, most of the studies were from Western countries, and it is not clear whether this finding also applies to Arab countries like Qatar.

Objectives: We aimed to explore whether mortality in patients with mental illness in Qatar, is different from those without.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study, including all Qatari nationals deceased in 2017 and 2018, using the list of registered deaths from Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) Mortuary. We divided the cohort of deceased people into two groups: with and without mental illness. For each of the groups, we collected the age at death, the reported cause of death as well as sociodemographic and clinical data.

Results: There were 602 registered deaths in 2017 and 589 deaths in 2018. The prevalence of mental illness was 20.4%. Compared to subjects without mental illness, subjects with mental illness surprisingly had higher age at death (median ± IQR = 76.5 ± 22.1 years vs. 62.7 ± 32.9 years; p < .001). This difference persisted even after we controlled for covariates. Individuals with mental illness were more likely to die of an infection (OR = 1.98[1.44;2.71]), or of chronic respiratory disease (OR = 3.53 [1.66;7.52]) but less likely to die because of accidental (OR = 0.21[0.09;0.49]) or congenital causes (OR = 0.18[0.04;0.77]).

Conclusion: Contrary to most previous studies, we did not find that mortality was higher in Qatari individuals with mental illness. Sociocultural factors, free and easy-to-access healthcare, and an enhanced role of mental health professionals in detecting medical comorbidities may explain this finding.

Keywords: Death; Mental illness; Morbidity; Mortality; Retrospective cohort.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Distribution of deaths by age at death in the general Qatari population 2017–2018
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Mean age at death for the different categories of psychiatric disorders compared to those without mental illness. * Includes Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and Intellectual disability. ** Includes personality, substance-related, and stress-related disorders
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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