Excess cause-specific mortality in in-patient-treatedindividuals with personality disorder: 25-year nationwide population-basedstudy

BackgroundAlthough personality disorders are associated with increased overallmortality, less is known about cause of death and personality type.AimsTo determine causes of mortality in ICD personality disorders.MethodBased on data from Swedish nationwide registers, individuals admitted tohospital with a primary diagnosis of personality disorder between 1987and 2011 were followed with respect to mortality until 31 December 2011.Standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) with 95% confidence intervals andunderlying causes of death were calculated.ResultsAll-cause SMRs were increased, overall and in all clusters, for naturalas well as unnatural causes of death. The overall SMR was 6.1 in womenand 5.0 in men, as high as previously reported for anorexia nervosa, withhigher rates in cluster B and mixed/other personality disorders. The SMRfor suicide was 34.5 in women and 16.0 in men for cluster B disorders.Somatic and psychiatric comorbidity increased SMRs.ConclusionsThe SMR was substantially increased for all personality disorderclusters. Thus, there was an increased premature mortality risk for allpersonality disorders, irrespective of category.