Zhongguo quanke yixue (Jul 2023)
Characteristics of Newly Increased and Deceased Patients with Severe Mental Illness in a Community in Beijing from 2011 to 2021
Abstract
Background There is a contradiction between a large population with severe mental illness and insufficient capacity to receive and treat them in China. Most of these patients long-termly live in the community, so it is essential for community health institutions to provide this population with timely and effective primary mental health services. Objective To analyze the characteristics of newly increased and decreased patients with severe mental illness in a community in Beijing from 2011 to 2021, so as to provide evidence for the implementation of community-based prevention and treatment of mental illnesses. Methods In January 2022, information of registered patients with severe mental illness (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, persistent delusional disorder, mental disorders associated with epilepsy or mental retardation accompanied by mental disorders) in a community of Beijing was obtained through Beijing Municipal Mental Health Information Management System, including demographic characteristics, disease status and the status of file creation. The yearly morbidity, mortality and years of life lost (YLL) rates were calculated for years between 2011 and 2021. With the patient information up to December 31, 2010 as the baseline, the information of newly increased and deceased patients from 2011 to 2021 was counted. Results From 2011 to 2021, the newly increased patients outnumbered the deceased ones, and the prevalence rate increased year by year since 2012, reaching 3.77‰ in 2021. Compared with the baseline, patients with severe mental illness in 2021 presented the following features: higher education level, a higher proportion of employers, a higher proportion of 60-year-olds and older, a lower proportion of schizophrenics, a higher proportion of patients with bipolar disorder, and a shorter duration of non-creation of files, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). During the period, there were 212 newly increased patients, and most of them suffered from schizophrenia (57.08%, 121/212) or bipolar disorder (36.32%, 77/212). The age of the first onset was mostly between 19 and 45 years (65.57%, 139/212). The number of patients with 5 years or less of duration of non-creation of files was the most (40.57%, 86/212), and the average median was 8.5 (15.5) years. Among the 90 deceased cases, schizophrenics accounted for the highest percentage (86.67%, 78/90), and those aged over 60 years accounted for 74.44% (67/90). The top three causes of death were somatic disease (84.44%, 76/90), suicide (7.78%, 7/90), and accidental death (2.22%, 2/90). The YLL rate fluctuated between -0.250‰ and 1.436‰ during the period. Conclusion The period of 2011 to 2021 witnessed more newly increased community residents with severe mental illness than deceased ones, an increased prevalence trend of severe mental illness, a shortened duration of non-creation of files, and the aged as the major deceased group, and somatic diseases as the major cause of death. Targeted measures should be taken to cope with the above changes.
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