Психология и психиатрия: открытый доступ

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Mortality Trends among inpatients at a Tertiary Psychiatric Hospital in Ethiopia

Selam Aberra, Ataly Alem and Abebaw Fekadu

Mortality among mentally ill people is higher than for the general population. Given the changes in health service delivery in Ethiopia over the past decade, assessment of mortality patterns during this period may provide relevant policy information. This research aimed to examine the mortality rate in a tertiary psychiatric hospital in Ethiopia. Mortality in people with mental illness due to both natural and unnatural causes is higher than that of the general population, both in high and low-income countries. People with severe mental illness lose up to three decades of their lives due to premature death in this regard. Many factors contribute to increased mortality in this population, particularly those receiving long-term hospital care. Most deaths are due to natural causes, mainly cardiovascular diseases and infectious conditions such as respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. Reports of death due to seclusion and restriction are also linked to face-down physical restriction that may impair breathing. Sudden death in psychiatric hospitals accounts for around 5 per cent of all death. Though the high mortality rates for psychiatric patients were mostly due to natural causes, the underlying mechanism is still unclear, and the excess mortality is not fully explained. In addition, mentally ill people also die from unnatural causes such as suicide , homicide, and accidents, and have been reported in Ethiopia.