Mortality among Homeless Men

Summary The mortality in a series of 6,032 homeless men in Stockholm was investigated. The observation period was up to 3 years. The observed number of deaths amounted to 327 compared to the expected 86·7, corresponding to an excess mortality ratio of about 4. Mortality was raised for all the causes of death studied. Most striking, however, was excess mortality from accidents and diseases of the digestive and respiratory systems. Accidental deaths were remarkably numerous, indicating that these are largely correlated to the social consequences of abuse. The same applies to deaths from pulmonary tuberculosis. Excess mortality from suicide was lower than that found in some earlier studies. This discrepancy is discussed. In comparison with the general population the high mortality from diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver and pancreatitis shows that many medically serious cases of alcoholism are included in the “Homeless Men” group.