Patients with bipolar disorder have a heightened risk of early death. Nonetheless, the actual drivers that contribute to the increased risk weren’t known until a recent study by a bunch of Finnish researchers.

In keeping with the findings of the most recent study, published in BMJ Mental Health, individuals with bipolar disorders are six times more more likely to die before their time from external causes, resembling accidents, violence and suicide. The study also suggests they’re two times more prone to early death from physical causes, also often known as somatic causes.

The team used data from medical and social insurance registers in Finland and tracked the health of all patients with bipolar disorder between the ages of 15 and 64 from 2004 to 2018.

In the beginning of the study, there have been 47,018 patients with bipolar disorder, with a median age of 38. Throughout the monitoring period, a complete of 141,536 people died, out of which 3,300 (7%) were bipolar patients.

The researchers then estimated the ratio of excess deaths directly contributed to bipolar disease by comparing it with the usual mortality ratio of the final population in Finland.

“External causes of death contributed more to the mortality gap than somatic causes after controlling for age-specific background general population mortality,” the researchers wrote.

Amongst deaths brought on by somatic illness, alcohol contributed to 29% of deaths, while heart disease and stroke contributed to 27%, followed by cancer, respiratory disease, diabetes and behavioral disorders related to substance misuse.

Nearly half of alcohol-related deaths were brought on by liver disease, followed by accidental alcohol poisoning and alcohol dependence.

The findings also suggest that out of the surplus deaths of bipolar patients from external causes, 61% were on account of suicide, which was eight times higher than that of the final population.

“Targeting preventive interventions for substance abuse will likely reduce the mortality gap each on account of external causes and somatic causes. Suicide prevention stays a priority, and higher awareness of the danger of overdose and other poisonings is warranted,” the researchers wrote. “A balanced consideration between therapeutic response, potential serious long-term somatic uncomfortable side effects of various medicines, and risk of cause-specific premature mortality is required, especially in younger individuals.”

Published by Medicaldaily.com