Young adults with schizophrenia face highest suicide risk, study says
Fox News
Suicide prevention efforts for those with schizophrenia should focus on young adults, researchers say, after a large study revealed heightened suicide risks in the 18-34 age group.
Findings from Columbia University and Rutgers were published in JAMA Psychiatry last week, drawing from data on nearly 670,000 schizophrenic patients with Medicare coverage from 2007-2016, with data analysis conducted in 2020-2021. According to the Mayo Clinic, "schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder in which people interpret reality abnormally, [and] may result in some combination of hallucinations, delusions, and extremely disordered thinking and behavior that impairs daily functioning, and can be disabling." In the current study, researchers found an overall 4.5-fold greater suicide rate among schizophrenic adults compared to the general population. However, suicide rates fell as patients grew older. Schizophrenic patients aged 18-34 faced the greatest risks with a suicide rate of 141.95 per 100,000 person-years, while those 65 and older had the lowest risk at a rate of 24.01.More Related News
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