Mortality rate five times higher for people with serious mental illnesses in Wigan

The Mental Health Foundation said the numbers are not "out of the blue" as people with serious mental illnesses are often significantly disadvantaged.

Figures from the NHS show 1,180 people with serious mental illness died in Wigan between 2020 and 2022.

Considering the total 78,929 people in contact with secondary mental health services since 2015 in the area, it meant they faced a mortality rate of 2,056 deaths per 100,000 people.

This is five times the mortality rate of people without mental illnesses – 413 deaths per 100,000.

Dr David Crepaz‑Keay, Mental Health Foundation head of research and applied learning, said there are many factors that lead to this.

He said: "There is anything between a 15 to 20 year drop in life expectancy for a diagnosis for schizophrenia, for example, but it is not about the condition itself being life shortening. It is down to other factors."

He added high levels of smoking, increased likelihood of using unprescribed drugs and poor sleep may also all play a role.

"But probably more likely than that is the socio-economic determinants associated with poverty," he added.

"By any measure, people with these diagnoses are much more likely to be unemployed, more likely to be living alone and more likely to be poor. We know all of those have a health impact."

The figures show those with serious mental health conditions across England were 2.3 times more likely to die from cancer, 3.9 times more likely to die from heart disease, 6.3 times more likely to die from respiratory disease and 6.6 times more likely to die from liver disease.

In Wigan, there was a significant difference in deaths caused by liver disease – with a mortality rate of 171 deaths per 100,000 people.

Meanwhile, those with no mental illness had a mortality rate of 29 deaths per 100,000 – meaning those with a serious mental illness were six times as likely to die.

Dr Crepaz-Keay said: "It is a group that are significantly disadvantaged and it is almost inevitable that that will at some point show up in poorer health outcomes."