Mortality and causes of death of acute and transient psychotic disorders

Background Little is known about mortality associated with acute transient psychoses. This paper examines mortality and causes of death of ICD-10 F23 ‘Acute and transient psychotic disorders’ (ATPD). Method Data from all subjects aged over 15 years who were enrolled in 1996 in the Danish psychiatric register with a first-admission diagnosis of ATPD were linked to the national register of causes of death. The standardized mortality ratio (SMR) for overall mortality and specific categories were calculated. Results Over the period 1996–2001, 87 (17.3%) of 503 patients with ATPD had died, accounting for a mortality rate of 35.3 per 1,000 person/years. The SMR for all causes (2.9), natural causes (2.5), and unnatural causes (9.2) were significantly increased. Suicide had the greatest SMR (30.9). Conclusions These findings argue for excess mortality of ATPD particularly from suicide.