Rethink analysis: adults with severe mental illness die 15-20 years earlier
NHS data reveals people with serious mental health conditions are nearly five times more likely to die from preventable physical diseases before age 75.
What to know
- Adults with severe mental illness die 15-20 years earlier than the general population, with 4.8 times higher likelihood of dying before age 75 from largely preventable physical diseases.
- Deaths from cancer and cardiovascular disease among working-age people with severe mental illness are at record highs, each exceeding 24,000 in 2022-2024.
- Diagnostic overshadowing—misattributing physical symptoms to mental illness—prevents proper investigation and treatment; other drivers include poverty, poor housing, smoking, and fragmented care.
- Rethink and Royal College of Psychiatrists call for government mental health strategy emphasizing physical health checks, integrated care, and peer support to close the mortality gap.
“These early deaths are not inevitable. The new cross-government mental health strategy … must prioritise physical health checks, improve access to mental-health informed interventions and bolster peer support.”
Mark Winstanley, Chief Executive, Rethink Mental Illness · Guardian ↗
Rethink Mental Illness Charity conducting NHS data analysisMark Winstanley Chief Executive of Rethink Mental IllnessProf Subodh Dave President of Royal College of Psychiatrists
How it unfolded 1 development · click the chart to see its coverage articlesposts
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Royal College of Psychiatrists president calls inequality unacceptable
Prof Subodh Dave, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, responds to the findings by stating the mortality gap is unacceptable and that people with severe mental illness deserve equal opportunity to live long, healthy lives.
“Having a severe mental illness shouldn't be an early death sentence. This stark inequality is unacceptable.”
— Prof Subodh Dave -
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Adults with severe mental illness are nearly five times more likely than their peers to die from serious physical diseases before the age of 75, according to research, by Anna Bawden www.theguardian.com/society/2026... via @theguardian.com
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https://www. theguardian.com/society/2026/s ep/20/adults-severe-mental-illness-more-likely-die-earlier-diseases-cancer-nhs-data .
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I have ADHD and I’ve already done all the reading. People like me die from suicide and alcohol abuse way earlier than our peers. We constantly have low lying depression and suffer from social rejection from an early age. Our bodies don’t supply us with normal dopamine and when we accomplish goals we don’t feel proud, just relieved. No wonder we…
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background
Report identifies diagnostic overshadowing as key barrier to treatment — The Rethink analysis concludes that diagnostic overshadowing—where physical symptoms are wrongly attributed to mental illness—prevents proper investigation and treatment of physical health conditions. The report also identifies contributing factors including poverty, poor housing, higher smoking rates, medication-related weight gain, physical inactivity, and fragmented care.
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background
Rethink releases NHS analysis on mortality gap in severe mental illness — The Rethink Mental Illness charity publishes analysis of NHS data showing adults with severe mental illness are 4.8 times more likely to die before age 75 than the general population. Specific excess mortality rates include 6.3 times for liver disease, 6 times for respiratory illness, 3.8 times for cardiovascular disease, and 2.3 times for cancer. Working-age deaths from cardiovascular disease and cancer are at their highest levels since records began, with over 24,000 deaths each in the 2022-2024 period.
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first by Mad In America, 2d ago · also Guardian Science, Guardian
What people are saying 3 voices from 1 site · best of 6 · verbatim
- Sep 22
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I assumed this was the case when I started smoking and drinking when I was around 16. I am now 44 years old and this sounds good to me.
- Sep 20
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Individuals who have severe mental illness are more likely to commit suicide. Many severe mental illnesses occur in the late teens/ early twenties - leading to young deaths in many cases. So this really isn’t a surprise.
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you're asking if we have a hypothesis about why people with medical conditions that lead to self-destructive behavior, including suicide, have lower life expectancies than those without?